Poisoned Minds
by rachael-green-bakura
Summary: Sequel to Hidden Intentions. Two years have passed since the events in the orc city. Rated M for language, gore, and sexual themes.
1. How to start with exposition

Two years had passed since that fateful time in the orc city. The old party had dispersed far and wide, each acting upon their own wish.

Jean had woken up on a cliff a few minutes after his death. Dragging himself to his feet, he realized that his body was very much the same, but the power he held was incredible. This was the power of a cursed one. His eyes had turned red, and his teeth had become jagged and pointed.

He had found a little village up the coast and promptly killed every man, woman, and child. He corrupted them, made them his own. For two years, he stayed and ran his village of undead. After a great deal of searching, he obtained a mask with mystical properties, which he used to hide the features that betrayed his as a cursed one. To his understanding, it was called Hoolron Vishnir.

* * *

><p>Tsubaki had woken in the middle of a forest. She was surprised to find that her body was feline, complete with ears and a tail. Adopting the name Noel as part of her new identity, she wore a cloak with a hood that hid her tail and ears, wearing a mask to hide her furry face. Noel wandered the lands, doing vigilante work, making a fair few enemies along the way.<p>

* * *

><p>Isarda and Balder were married upon their return to the elven capital. Isarda's success at creating the peace treaty between the elves and the orcs was enough to get her promoted to a duchess. Isarda and Balder lived in the largest house in the capital together.<p>

* * *

><p>Lily had gone perhaps the farthest of all of them. She became a wanderer, simply going around the land doing good deeds. She would do anything she could, be it vigilante or employed, honest or more of the rogue work she was so adept at. But nothing she did could fill the void.<p>

The loss of Xant two years earlier was still a fresh wound on her heart. She was sad, very sad. She considered killing herself to truly be with him more than once. Once, about six months after Xant's becoming an angel, she tried it. Deep in the woods, completely alone with no chance of help, she slit both her wrists, halfway down her forearms and deep enough to touch bone. In ordinary circumstances, the ones she had been counting on, there was no chance of survival. What she didn't count on was divine intervention. Xant seemed to have become her literal guardian angel, stopping her bleeding before she could die. She carried the scars on her wrists as a reminder that he was watching her. She had also picked up the habit of scratching at her scars when she was upset, not even noticing doing it anymore.

Lily had not gone anywhere near another man in two years. She now considered everything, even something as simple as a kiss on the hand, the deepest form of betrayal. She was unwilling to do anything that she wouldn't have done when she was still in Xant's arms, even though she knew that he was long gone.

* * *

><p>Next chapter starts the actual story, I promise.<p> 


	2. How to enter via window

Noel sat in a quiet corner of the tavern. The ambiance in this tavern was the same as it was in any tavern: rowdy and drunk. She sat alone, lifting her mask slightly to take a sip of her drink. A man, extremely drunk by the look and smell of him, stumbled over to Noel's table.

"Hey, baby," he slurred. "You wanna have some fun with me?"

"Not particularly," said Noel, sipping her drink.

"Oh, come _on_, don't be such a stick in the mud," said the man.

"I said no," said Noel. "Leave me be."

"Don't be like that, baby," said the man, grabbing Noel's arm, spilling her drink.

Noel pulled an odd weapon from her belt. It was like a short metal stick. She pointed it right between the drunken man's eyes.

"Leave me alone," she repeated.

"Whatcha got there, baby?" asked the man, laughing. "You gonna use that stick to prepare yourself for my dick?"

Noel rolled her eyes in disgust and pulled the trigger. There was a _bang_, so loud that it was heard well over the noise of the bar. The man fell, a clean hole between his eyes.

"Sorry, but masturbating with this thing would be a horrible idea," she said calmly, getting up to get another drink.

Noel sensed the blow before it came. She ducked as the patron swung at her head, throwing her foot out behind her. Her kick caught the man in the chest, throwing him backwards to skid across the closest table, knocking another man's drink all over him. And that was how the bar fight started.

Noel rolled her eyes in annoyance. She walked calmly through the mayhem, ducking every now and again as something came flying at her head, her cat-like reflexes exceedingly useful. She pushed open the door and stepped outside.

"I see you're doing well," said a voice behind Noel. Noel turned.

"Claire," she said. Claire was leaning against the wall of the tavern, examining her fingernails. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you. Wasn't hard, to be perfectly honest. You'd best watch yourself; there are wanted posters of you all over the place," said the druid, using her shoulder to push herself off the wall. A man smashed through the window to land on the ground next to Claire. "You seem to be finding ways to amuse yourself."

"You could say that," said Noel. "Why were you looking for me?"

"I'm looking for all four of you," corrected Claire. "You, Jean, Lily, and Randor."

"Randor is dead," said Noel. "And so is Jean. I have no idea what became of Lily; she could be dead too for all I know."

"That's actually only half true," said Claire, approaching Noel. "Randor is very dead; he's not going to be leaving his grave anytime soon. As for Jean, he's quite lively these days. Runs a small village not too far from here, to my understanding. You are coming with me to retrieve him. Then we can focus on Lily, who I assure you is very much alive."

"What makes you think I'll do that?" asked Noel.

"Come on, I'm trying to get the old gang back together," said Claire as if this were a great treat. "I'll explain when we find Jean. Come on; I've waited two years already."

* * *

><p>"But he took my chicken!"<p>

"I've heard your argument!" said Jean in frustration. "I've heard it repeatedly every day for a month! And I don't care! It's a chicken! Now get out of my office! And don't you give me that look!"

The man shot a death glare over his shoulder as he stalked out of the office. Jean leaned back in his chair with a sigh and covered his eyes with a hand. There was a knock on the door.

"What now?" he asked angrily.

The door to his office opened. In walked one woman he knew and one woman he didn't.

"Claire," he hissed. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," replied Claire coolly. "I've already found Tsubaki."

"It's Noel now," said Noel. "Hello, Jean."

Jean nodded. "Tsuba – Noel. Anyway, why are you here?"

"Well, you see," said Claire, "you all did marvelously in the getting-Lupin-out-of-that-shithole thing. He's fine, thanks for asking, and has moved far away from here. But you didn't do all that I asked."

"What else did we have to do?" asked Noel.

"Carver," said Claire. "He's still around. I told you that if you found him to put that collar on him."

"I don't have that collar anymore," said Jean.

"Doesn't matter," said Claire. "I have received intelligence that he is currently in the Sunset Mountains. I want you to go and get him back."

"And why should we?" asked Jean.

"Because in the two years we've been apart, I've become an archdruid and can order you to be killed if I want to," said Claire dangerously.

"What about Lily?" asked Noel.

"I don't currently know where she is, but I assure you I could find out within hours," said Claire. "You two will move on to the Sunset Mountains and I will locate her and send her your way."

Jean and Noel exchanged a glance. Noel cleared her throat.

"The elven capital is between here and the Sunset Mountains," she said. "We could drop in on Isarda and Balder and see if they'll join us. It'll be just like old times…only without Randor."

"I don't care for it to be like old times," snapped Jean. "I run a town here; I can't just up and leave it!"

"You don't have a choice," said Claire. "Your village will be fine without you for a few months. They won't all kill each other in that time."

Jean shifted uncomfortably and stood. He swept past Noel and Claire, muttering as he passed them.

"Let's get this over with, then."

* * *

><p>Isarda entered the library of her mansion to see her husband sitting in one of the armchairs, absorbed in a book of his lap. Isarda looked curiously at it. It was entitled <em>Fatherhood<em>. Balder looked up and saw her, hastily snapping the book shut and shoving it under a cushion.

"Isarda," he said would-be casually.

Isarda smiled. "What was that you were reading?" she asked.

"Just a story," said Balder.

"What's it about?" asked Isarda.

"Oh, um," said Balder, clearly stuck. "It's about…a man who wants to become a father. So…he…I don't know, I'm not very far into it yet."

"Sounds interesting," said Isarda, giving him a smile that said quite plainly, _I know exactly what you were doing_.

"So, uh," said Balder, flushing slightly. "About dinner tonight, I thought I'd make something." Balder often did this. He was now Isarda's husband, but he still often acted as though he were still her servant.

"My lord and lady."

Isarda and Balder looked up at the servant who had just walked in.

"Yes, what is it?" asked Isarda.

"You have some visitors," he said with a bow. "They have said that it is urgent."

"Who is it?" asked Balder.

"I'm not sure. A man and a woman, both wearing masks. The woman said that you four were…friends of old."

Isarda and Balder exchanged a glance. Balder stood from his chair and took Isarda's hand, leading her from the library.

In the main hall stood a man and a woman, both of whom were masked. Isarda and Balder approached them cautiously.

"Hello," said Isarda. "Might I ask who you are?"

"Long time no see, you two," said the man. "I thought you would recognize me."

"I'm sorry?" said Balder.

"It's me, Jean," said Jean.

"And I used to be Tsubaki," said Noel.

"Wh-what?" asked Isarda. "That's impossible, we saw you both die."

"Clearly, we did not," said Jean.

"Um, shall we make this more private?" asked Balder. "Come on, let's go to the kitchens."

The four of them moved silently to the kitchen, Balder closing and locking the door behind them.

"So," he said, "what the hell are you doing here?"

"Well you see," said Jean, "Claire tracked us down. She accused us of not fulfilling our entire mission. Your city was on our way, so we thought we'd drop in and ask you if you would like to accompany us."

"I would love to go, but only if Isarda..." Balder shot a glance at her.

"What of Lily?" asked Isarda. "Would she be coming too?"

"Well, yeah, if we could find her," said Noel. "None of us know where she ended up. We were hoping you'd have kept in contact with her, seeing how you three were the only three left 'alive' at the end of all that."

Isarda shook her head. "Lily left to find her own way," said Isarda. "We haven't seen or spoken to her since Randor's funeral two years ago. We heard that she became a wanderer; you can't really keep tabs on a wanderer."

"Well, isn't this lovely?" said Jean. "None of us have any idea where she is. How the hell are we going to find her?"

At that moment, the floor-to-ceiling window in the kitchen shattered. A woman was thrown through the window to land face-down on the floor. She appeared to be in her early twenties. She was unconscious, and blood was already beginning to pool underneath her, dripping thickly from between the links of her mithril chain shirt. She had red hair, falling to her mid-back. She had braided the front strands and pulled them around to form a thicker braid down the back.

Jean walked over and turned the woman over so they could see her face. He looked up at the others.

"Found her," he said.

* * *

><p>So we're all back together again! I still say my entrance into the story was the most dramatic.<p> 


	3. How to lose a rib

Lily was in bad shape. Aside from being unconscious, she was very pale. There were open cuts on her face and neck, all of them looking as if they were made with a blade. Most concerning was the river of blood still dripping from between the links of her chain shirt. Her breathing was shallow.

Isarda bent down next to her. "Lily!" she cried. She lifted the chain shirt to see a massive bloodstain on the shirt below it. She pushed that up too to reveal a huge, deep, jagged wound across her side, bleeding profusely. "Oh my gods, Lily!"

"If you don't want to end up like her, you'll hand the girl over."

Four men, dressed in black, had followed Lily through the gap in the window. All four had their weapons drawn.

"Who the hell are you?" demanded Jean.

"Did you do this to her?" spat Balder.

"Hardly," said the man who had spoken. "We're only responsible for the window and the unconscious part. The rest was done by our captain, who the bitch had the gall to knock out while she was escaping. Now, hand her over and you won't end up the same."

"I don't think so," said Jean savagely.

Shadows rose up around the men and folded around them. There were muffled sounds inside the shadow. When it fell away, all four men collapsed to the ground, dead.

Balder turned his back on the dead men and picked up Lily bridal style. "Come on," he said. "We need to take her to the hospital."

* * *

><p>Isarda, Balder, Jean, and Noel sat around Lily's bed. She had been bandaged up and her breathing was stronger, but she was still unconscious. They all now saw how much she had changed. Her hair was longer than it had been, and so was her skirt. It now fell almost to her knees as opposed to the ridiculously short miniskirt she used to wear. Now that her armor was off, they all saw how much thinner she was. There were dark circles under her eyes. It looked as though she had not slept properly once in the two years they had been apart. Two long, thick scars adorned her inner wrists. She looked older.<p>

Lily groaned and stirred. She was coming around. She didn't want to open her eyes. She was comfortable; she wanted to lay there and go back to sleep. How did she get here? She remembered getting herself caught but…everything after that was a blank. She half opened her dark brown eyes. They darted around the room, looking for her weapon, which she spotted on the table beside her. She raised her gaze slightly and it settled on two people she knew.

"I-Isarda?" she mumbled, her eyes opening fully. "Isarda! Balder! What are you – _AHN_!"

Lily tried to sit up, but an excruciating agony shot through her body from her left side, just below her breast. Her right hand shot to the site of the pain, holding it, her teeth gritted and her eyes squeezed shut. Balder stood and walked over, gently pushing her back onto her back.

"Yeah, that doesn't work," he said. "It might interest you to know that you're missing a rib."

Scattered memories formed in Lily's brain, but they were foggy. She remembered a faceless man driving the jagged knife into her side, digging his fingers in and ripping out the blood- and sinew-covered bone. Her own screams echoed in her ears. The rest of her torture, for she was sure there had been more than that, was still a blank.

"Right," she said. She pulled her hand away to check for blood and was surprised to see none. Her wound had closed. She looked down and saw blood staining the bandages regardless. She tried to push herself into sitting position again, slowly and carefully this time, but pain shot up her spine again and she stopped with another small noise of pain. Lying back, she looked around the room. "Alright, I see two people I recognize and two people I don't."

"Lily, you don't recognize me?" asked Jean. "It's me, Jean!"

Lily stared at him before looking down at her hands and saying, "Ohhhh, I'm afraid."

"What, why?" asked Jean.

"Well, one, I saw you die," she said. "Very brutally, I might add. And two, didn't you hate me? Want to kill me even?"

Jean was spared from answering by a knock on the door. It opened and a Negro woman looked in.

"Excuse me," she said. "Is there a Mr. Jean in here?"

"That's me," said Jean.

"Can I speak with you for a moment?" the woman asked.

"Uh, sure," said Jean. "Be right back." Jean stood up and exited the room.

Lily looked back at Noel. "So, who're you?" she asked.

"I used to be Tsubaki," said Noel. "I answer to Noel now."

Lily nodded. "So, what's everyone been up to?" she asked, looking around the room.

"Balder and I are married now," said Isarda, smiling.

"Really? That's great! Congrats!" said Lily.

* * *

><p>"What is it, Madeena?" asked Jean in a whisper outside the door. "Why have you come here? I left the town under your care."<p>

"There's a slight problem," Madeena whispered back, looking very nervous. "You remember the rumors of AnuValore? How you sent some men after the woman who owned it and they captured her?"

"Yes," said Jean.

"She, uh, she escaped," said Madeena. "She escaped, stole AnuValore back, and injured the man you put in charge."

"I thought she was under heavy torture," growled Jean. "She shouldn't have been in any state to escape!"

"She was!" hissed Madeena. "I know for a fact she had a rib ripped out just before she escaped. I know they sent four men after her, but we've just found their corpses and she was nowhere to be found."

An odd expression had crossed Jean's face. It looked as though he had been slapped. He cracked the door to Lily's room. Madeena looked in and her eyes widened in surprise.

"That's her!" she breathed. "That's the woman who owns AnuValore."

Jean closed the door silently. "Damn!" he hissed. "If I had known it was Lily we were after I would've sent more men, with the order to kill on sight instead of messing around with torturing her! I would've made certain she was dead!"

* * *

><p>"So what about you, Lily?" asked Balder. "You left us on kind of a sad note. Have you held up okay?"<p>

Lily's expression changed. She looked down at her hands, sadness creeping into her eyes. "I'm okay," she said. Her voice had changed; it was quiet and sad. "It's lonely without…but I know…It's just…"

Lily dug the nails on her right hand into her left wrist and began absentmindedly scratching at the scar. She watched what she was doing without seeing. Balder walked over and caught her right wrist, pulling her hand away. She looked up and met his eyes.

"You know, hurting yourself won't bring him back," he said gently.

"What?" asked Lily, looking genuinely confused. Her gaze slid back down to her wrist and she saw the nail marks. Her eyes filled with comprehension as she realized that she had been doing it again.

A tremor shook the building. Jean reentered the room and everyone looked around at the shaking walls. Isarda went over to Balder and he held her. Lily tried to sit up again, but with similar results as before. There was an almighty crack that sounded very close by, the rush of speeding air, and the sensation of falling.

* * *

><p>Sorry for the delay; for some reason I simply didn't want to write this chapter. Not sure why.<p>

Yeah, Lily's fucked up both emotionally and physically, and Jean has revealed himself as a royal douche. That, my friends, is a permanent injury he has indirectly inflicted upon her. Bones don't just grow back. And Lily has amnesia; whether forgetting her torture was repressed or something that happened when being beaten unconscious by the four men remains to be seen. If the answer is going to be revealed at some point by our wise and all-powerful DM, it hasn't been yet.


	4. How to piss yourself in terror

Isarda, Balder, and Lily were gone. Noel backed away rapidly from the dark hole in the middle of the room. Jean ran over and grabbed her upper arm, pulling her to her feet.

"Come on," he said quickly. "Let's go!"

"But – "

"Now!" said Jean. "I don't know what's going on here, but a gut instinct tells me that we don't want to be here!"

Noel looked down the hole. She couldn't see any sign of a bottom. She bowed her head and allowed Jean to lead her away.

The two of them left the room and Jean tore off down the hall, Noel struggling to keep up. They both stumbled as a huge crack wrought the stone floors. From the depths of that crack crawled out the strangest and most terrifying creature either of them had ever seen.

It was a grotesque fleshy color, with pale feathers running the length of its body. It had no legs, but instead a long, thick tail that could've once been legs, evolution fusing them together. A sharp spine rested on the tip of the tail. Its claws were two feet long and wickedly sharp-looking. Its face was sunken in like a skull, black eyes set deeply into the sockets. It had no nose, only a triangular hole where one should be, a thin strip of flesh not quite covering it. Its teeth were jagged.

The creature hissed. Fear like Jean had not felt since he was alive flooded his veins. The creature turned to him and sniffed the air through the thin flesh, so thin that the dark hole was visible through it. Its sunken eyes turned to Jean and it made an odd, insect-like clicking sound.

With remarkable speed, it crawled towards Jean. Its arms were bent at ninety degree angles, the tail smacking heavily on the ground to propel itself along, cracking the stone. It would have looked comical had it not been so terrifying.

There was a deafening bang and the creature stopped. Unflinchingly, slowly, it turned its eyes down to its side, where a bloodless wound had appeared. Just as slowly, it turned its eyes on Noel, holding one of her guns up with a violently shaking hand. It hissed and clicked. Then, with lightning speed, it lunged, thrusting its tail downwards to propel itself. All ten claws buried themselves in Noel's gut, breaking through her armor like warm butter. Noel shrieked.

It simply sat there, its claws buried in Noel. Noel felt an excruciating pain all over her body. A hand closed on each of the creature's wrists, ripping them from Noel and throwing the creature into the wall. Noel screamed. Jean moved in front of her, warhammer drawn. Noel felt drained, older. The creature looked slightly different. There was more flesh on its bones and its eyes didn't seem as sunken in. It looked more alive.

A second creature crawled out of the rift and looked around at the situation. It looked at its fellow and clicked rapidly. The first creature responded and the two of them had a brief conversation before turning their eyes on the two of them. They each lunged at a different person, and everything went black.

* * *

><p>Lily lay on her stomach, in a significant amount of pain. The wound on her side burned horribly and her body hurt all over from the impact of an extremely long fall. She knew that she was lucky to be alive. Isarda and Balder were close to her, both of them knocked unconscious from the fall.<p>

Slowly, she tried to push herself onto her hands and knees. Agony shot up her side and with a yelp of pain her hand shot to it. The area felt warm and damp. She pulled her hand away and looked at her hand. Her palm and fingers were covered in blood. Her wound had reopened upon impact. With a low moan of pain and defeat, she let herself drop as quickly as she dared back onto her stomach. There was a clatter next to her. She looked over and saw her bow fall near her head. She reached out and clutched the familiar worn handle, pulling it close. She closed her eyes.

They flew open again as she heard a creepy hissing and clicking noise. Her body tensed up and she slowly raised her head. She saw the glint of eyes above her in the darkness, watching her closely. Whatever it was hissed again.

Fear clawed at her stomach. Gripping her bow tightly, she pointed it at the glinting eyes and pulled back the string with a trembling hand. A glowing, cyan bolt of energy formed in the place of an arrow. She let it go. It flew through the air and barely missed. It struck the rough, rocky wall that she hadn't seen in the gloom, inches from the…whatever it was. As it struck the wall, it briefly illuminated the creature that was watching her.

Icy terror flooded Lily's veins. Her mouth opened in a kind of silent scream, a small whimper of terror escaping her. The creature clung to the wall, wickedly long claws dug slightly into the wall to hold it up. It silently looked at the spot where the arrow had struck, then slowly back at her. Their eyes locked and Lily let out a low moan of fear.

There was a hiss coming from its direction. Then, with a thrill of fear, she heard hisses and clicks all around her. The gloom around her was moving, shifting. She felt a clawed hand warp around her ankle. She glanced down to see one of the creatures, larger than the one she had seen on the wall. It grinned horribly, showing jagged, sharp teeth. It gave a great yank and pulled her close to it. Lily shrieked in terror, her scream echoing around walls of the cavern.

Her scream roused Isarda, who also surrounded by the creatures. Unlike Lily, who was getting louder, Isarda remained utterly silent, her eyes popping in fear.

The creatures dragged them along a passage in a group. Looking around, the girls could see more of the creatures, peeking out of gaps in the walls. Hissing and clicking surrounded them. The rough rocky floor scraped up their backs. Lily's wound was still bleeding profusely, leaving a dark crimson trail behind her, the scrapes on her back adding to the trail. Her chain shirt had not fallen through like her bow, and in any case she hadn't been able to sit up long enough to put it on. The sleeveless shirt she wore underneath her armor was getting torn.

For what seemed like an eternity they were dragged by these horrific creatures until they ended up in a small, torch lit room. The creatures threw them unceremoniously onto their stomachs. Balder groaned quietly and stirred. Isarda shot her husband a fearful look. Lily let out the quietest moan of pain and Isarda glanced instead over at her. Her side was completely drenched in blood and the back of her shirt had long tears down it with scrapes visible in the rips. Lily was trembling in fear and pain. She looked back at Isarda and saw the terrified tears in her eyes. Isarda averted her eyes and looked back at Balder.

Lily looked away from Isarda and looked instead in front of her. She got a shock to see Jean and Noel being held by two more of the creatures. Then she saw something in a black robe that touched the floor, though clearly had legs as opposed to the barbed tail. Her gaze followed the robe upwards up to the creature's face. She let out another small whimper of fear.

"Hello, love," hissed the mind flayer.

* * *

><p>Those creatures don't have a name; they were invented by our DM. He based them off the Leapers from Dead Space, I believe. So, uh, I don't own the Leapers.<p> 


	5. How to beat paladins with a gnome

"You, girl, have something I desire," said the mind flayer, pointing at Lily.

Lily scooted away from the mind flayer as fast as her wounds would allow, whimpering in pain. The mind flayer ignored her and continued talking.

"My minions have relayed to me that you have the elusive AnuValore," it hissed, "and I desire it."

"My bow?" said Lily, holding it close to her chest. "No…no, you're not taking my bow."

"I don't think you want to choose that as an option," said the mind flayer. "These others have their fate set, but you, my dear, you have a choice."

"You are not taking my bow away from me," said Lily, shaking her head.

"You can either give AnuValore to me, and I'll kill you quickly," said the mind flayer, "or you can keep it and I leave you for them."

He gestured to the creatures around the room, and the hissing and clicking rose in volume again. Lily gripped AnuValore tightly, looking around the room in fear. She looked unsure; she was weighing the two in the mind. Eventually she sighed and closed her eyes.

"No," she said. "If I'm going to die anyway than I'd rather die with my weapon. You can take it from me when I'm dead!"

The hissing rose in volume again and the mind flayer laughed. "Do you know what these creatures will do to you?" he asked. When Lily didn't answer he continued. "I bred them myself. They drain life to keep themselves alive for the next ten minutes. What they would do to you is impale you with their claws and drain every second of life you have left. You would not die quickly or painlessly. You would rapidly grow old and die in agony. The more life they drain, the longer they stay alive. You are young; they would get much off of you."

Lily tightened her grip on her bow. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't let go of her bow again; the last time she had she had been tortured for days. But she definitely didn't like the sound of what these horrifying creatures would do to her.

"Lily, just give him the bow!" shouted Jean.

Lily glanced at him for a fraction of a second. She turned her gaze downwards to the bow in her hands. She stared at it for several seconds before squeezing her eyes shut and throwing it to the ground. It clattered at the mind flayer's feet and Lily's shoulders slumped, defeated.

"Excellent," hissed the mind flayer, picking it up. "AnuValore. The giver of life itself. Let us see how you work."

The mind flayer pulled back the string and pointed it at a huddle of his creatures. He charged the bow, the bolt of energy growing larger and larger. Even Lily was amazed at the awesome power of AnuValore. Whenever she had charged it she had only done so for a few seconds. The mind flayer stood there for much longer than that. After four minutes, the bolt filled half the floor-to-ceiling space. The mind flayer released it and shot the enormous arrow at the group of his monsters. When the cyan light had dissipated, the creatures could have almost passed for being alive, so dramatic was their change in appearance.

"Excellent," the mind flayer hissed again. "Take them to the cages. Put them in separate cells. Everyone except – " The creatures stopped advancing on them and looked up at their master. " – that one." He pointed a long finger at Balder.

"No!" shouted Isarda desperately, moving in front of him. "Take me! Leave him alone."

The mind flayer only watched them. His monsters began advancing again. Balder sidestepped Isarda and moved in front of her.

"Very well," he said calmly. "But I will tell you now that if you hurt my wife, I will kill you."

"Balder!" cried Isarda as two of the creatures grabbed her arms and began to drag her away. Jean and Noel were being pulled away by the two that had been holding them the entire time. Lily was yanked to her feet by two of them with a cry of pain as her side seared.

"Oh, and make sure the human girl sleeps," said the mind flayer as they were dragged out. "She could hurt herself farther by trying to find an escape. We don't want her to bleed to death from that wound before she has her chance in the arena."

With the exception of Lily, who was struggling the entire way, they were led quietly to a jail like area, cells lining both walls. The creatures all threw their person into a separate cell. There were people in nearly all the cells, looking at the new arrivals with little interest.

Lily was thrown down onto her stomach. The creature on her right smacked her on the back of the head with its tail, and everything went black.

* * *

><p>Jean was not happy, and Noel, in the empty cell across from him, could tell that he was not happy. Jean was sitting in a cell with four other people. All four of them were paladins. And all of them could tell exactly what Jean was. The animosity in the air was almost palpable.<p>

The gnome shifted and reached for his weapon, but the scabbard was empty. "If I had my sword, abomination…"

"You'd still die," said Jean. "I don't need my hammer to kill all four of you."

"You wanna bet, devil?" hissed the gnome.

The gnome lunged at Jean. There was a brief tussle and suddenly Jean was facing the remaining three paladins, the gnome's head in his hand, holding the ripped out spine like a handle.

Noel couldn't help but laugh to herself as she watched Jean beat the other paladins to death with his improvised hammer.

* * *

><p>Isarda was huddled in the corner, away from her cellmates. These men appeared to be halfway through turning into those creatures. Isarda wondered if all the monsters had once been men. They had a thin layer of feathers; their legs appeared to be stuck together, not quite a tail yet; their nails were very long.<p>

They mostly kept to themselves against the wall, but every now and again, a tussle would break out and one of the men would get stabbed and have a part of his life drained away, usually getting piled on by the others and eventually dying. Isarda tried hard not to be noticed whenever these occurred.

* * *

><p>Lily was dreaming. She was back on the surface, in the elven capital above. Those terrifying creatures were swarming the streets, draining the life of any unfortunate soul they happened across. She watched as one very close to her scooped up an elven infant. It cradled it, its face turned away from her. Slowly, it pushed a single claw into the squirming infant's heart. Lily watched as seven hundred years went by in super fast motion, as the child aged and grew old, eventually turning to dust. As the elf's entire life was being drained, the creature was changing. It was becoming more human. Its nails were shortening; its tail was separating into two legs. He, for now it was quite clear that it was male, grew taller, until he was about ten inches taller than Lily. Black hair fell to his bare shoulders. He was naked.<p>

When the infant was dead, the man turned around and faced Lily. His green eyes locked onto her brown ones. Lily clapped her hand over her mouth to suppress a scream and stumbled backwards.

Xant grinned, showing those slightly pointed teeth he had never really gotten rid of in his human form. Then he started to laugh, a horrible, cruel laugh that didn't suit him. He lunged at her, his old demonic features returning.

Lily woke with a start. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she was breathing quickly. She was lying on her side where the creatures had thrown her. Trembling, she drew her legs up to her chest and curled into a ball on the ground. The wound on her side burned intensely, but she ignored it without a sound. Her eyes were shut tight. She had had dreams about him before now, but never one like that.

She was curled in her fetal position, her whole body trembling. Her eyelashes were wet. All of a sudden she heard, very clearly and right behind her, a voice that was painfully familiar. The voice she would have gone to Hell and back to hear again.

"It's not pretty, is it?"

Lily's trembling abruptly stopped. Her eyes flew open and she grew very still. Slowly, ignoring the pain in her side, she pushed herself into sitting position and looked over her shoulder.

A man stood behind her. He was about six feet tall. Black hair fell to his shoulders. His eyes were a deep emerald color. He wore simple black silk clothing. He was almost exactly how she remembered him; the only thing new were the pure white, feathery wings sprouting from his shoulder blades.

"X…Xant?" she said softly, gaping at the angel in disbelief.

He smiled at her. It was identical to the sad smile he wore on his last morning out on the balcony.

"Xant!" Lily cried gleefully. She pushed herself to her feet, side burning, and threw herself forward, intent on tackling him to the ground and holding him for an eternity.

Nothing caught her. She stumbled forward, and upon trying to catch herself she felt her wound reopen. Confused, she turned around to ask why she had gone through him, only to find that there was nothing there. She looked around the cell. Her cellmates were all looking at her like she was insane. Slowly it dawned on her that he had never been there at all.

She walked over to the wall and slid down it, burying her face in her knees and wrapping her arms around herself. Silently the tears rolled down her cheeks.

* * *

><p>Chris: He smiles at you.<br>Me: Is it really Xant?  
>Chris: Yes, it's really Xant.<br>Me: Tackleglomphug now.  
>Chris: Okay you...do that...<p>

etc etc etc

Chris: Everyone is looking at you like you're _fucking_ insane.  
>Me: Not just insane, but fucking insane?<br>Chris: _Fucking _insane.

^Only reason I didn't write that was because fucking out of speaking looks really amateurish to me.


	6. How to have no morals

**Faleyn** - (1) What happened to Noel was _weird_. Seriously, he said "I wanna be a furry!"

(2) Yeah, Lily does always seem to be in some kind of trouble, doesn't she? Noel is badass and Jean is a douche. I couldn't stop laughing at the mental image of Balder with an afro, and yes you are definitely wrong. The DM never gave us a full description, but I always pictures him with hair similar to Xant, only without the bangs and with his ears visible. I cannot answer your question at this point in time.

(3) No, sorry, Lily has claimed that honor, and he'd probably kill you as easily as he'd kill Lily. Which is why I'm not going to do it until I'm ready to reunite her with Xant. But when the final campaign is nearing its end, ohhh Jean is gonna get it.

(4) Yeah, those creatures (I keep wanting to call them Leapers) freak me the fuck out. I get all paranoid and shit. And no, Noel isn't old. It only got her long enough to add two years to her age.

(5) My god, you really hate Jean, don't you? I actually like him a lot out of character, but that's cause it's funny because his player is the nicest guy ever. We have a lot of inside jokes with Jean. They all gave a fuck about being captured, but this is how it went: Jean: "I go quietly." Noel: "I go quietly." Isarda: "I go quietly." Lily: "Fuck you guys, I'm struggling and screaming. Fucking Leapers, bro." Isarda does seem to have the worst cell. As for the dreaming or having a vision, up until the Leaper Xant attacked her, Lily was dreaming. As for angel Xant, I'm not entirely sure. The most probable one is that she's going nuts and hallucinated him, but the possibility that he was actually there is still there. A mage could also be fucking with her head. One of three. I think it's the former though.

* * *

><p>They were led to a small room with the rest of the prisoners. Jean was flanked by twelve of the creatures for their own safety, them having found Jean in his cell attempting to rip the shinbone out of one of the paladins to make a makeshift lockpick. The creatures seemed genuinely afraid of him now.<p>

They had their weapons returned to them, even Lily, to her great surprise, and were told to wait. The other prisoners all seemed terrified and kept talking about "their turn." About once every five minutes the huge double doors would open and the roar of a crowd would sound. A person would be selected to enter the arena, another person coming out of the doors opposite them. A few minutes later the doors would open again. Sometimes the man who had left their side would return. Other times he would not.

Isarda and Noel were watching with mounting tension. Jean was simply curious and waited silently. Lily was off in the corner, ignoring everyone, lost in her own thoughts.

Had she imagined him? Had she been so desperate for comfort after that horrible dream that she had only thought Xant was there? Or had he actually been there and left? No, he wouldn't have done that. So what had happened back there? Was someone just fucking with her head? Lily ran these questions over in her mind, scratching at her scars without noticing.

When it was Jean's turn, he walked calmly out into the arena to the roar of the crowd to face whatever it was that he would be facing. The stands were packed with the creatures. In a tented platform across from him, an ornate chair sat overlooking the arena. The mind flayer sat upon it. Balder stood at his right, his expression unreadable.

Across from Jean stood a child, no more than five years old. He was armed with a weapon much too large for him. Jean stared, then looked up at the mind flayer. This was a test of his morality, he knew it. A wicked grin, unseen due to his mask, crossed his face.

Less than a minute later, Jean left the arena. The child and what remained of his skull were being carried away. Balder looked sick and even the mind flayer looked surprised at the clear lack of remorse for bashing a child's head in.

Isarda was called in next. She was shaking slightly as she walked into the arena. Looking up, she saw her husband. Balder saw her too and turned furiously to the mind flayer. Isarda couldn't hear what was being said but he was clearly accusing the mind flayer of something rather heatedly.

Standing on the other side of the arena was a werewolf. He growled at her and charged. Isarda squeaked and didn't react fast enough. The werewolf's claws swiped across her upper arm, cutting deeply. She cried out. Balder said something to the mind flayer again, fear on his face, but the mind flayer ignored him and waved him away without looking at him.

There was a crackle and a massive lightning bolt struck the werewolf in the head. He let out a yelp like a kicked puppy and fell forward. He did not move. The mind flayer raised his hand after a few seconds to declare the fight over. As Isarda went back into the room she looked up one more time at Balder. He looked immensely relieved and gave her a small smile and a wave. She smiled back up at him.

Jean was called back out again. This time a heavily pregnant woman stood across from him, unarmed. She looked terrified. Jean cracked his neck and charged at her. Before he got to her, however, a man ran in front of her. Jean didn't stop, bashing the man in the side of the head. The woman screamed and bent down over her husband. Jean slammed his hammer into the back of her head. The mind flayer was halfway through raising his hand to end the fight when Jean flipped the woman over and bashed in her stomach for good measure.

There was a collective "Ohh!" from the crowd. The mind flayer froze, staring in shock at Jean, walking calmly back to the double doors as if he had done nothing disturbing at all. The mind flayer blinked and shook his head, raising his hand the rest of the way.

It was Lily's turn now. She was pushed out into the arena, stumbling a bit. Standing on the other side of the arena, haunches raise, was a dire wolverine. Lily raised her bow and pointed it at the wolverine. She knew she needed to finish this quickly; she was injured enough as it was.

Her arrow hit the wolverine in the shoulder. It growled and charged at her, swiping with its claws. Lily felt them connect with her thigh and stumbled slightly as the blood began to flow.

Noel was dragged out to the area by two of the creatures, holding her arms tightly. They held her head, making sure she watched the fight.

Lily shot at the wolverine again, hitting its chest. It swiped at her again, its claws slicing her stomach. Lily shot it a final time. The arrow hit the wolverine in the eye. It stumbled and fell heavily. Lily didn't quite manage to get out of the way in time.

Pain racked her body as she crawled out from under it, kicking the heavy corpse off of her. Wincing, she pulled herself to her feet. She looked up and saw Noel being forced to watch. Mouth slightly open, she looked down at the dead dire wolverine. Her expression changed to one of horror when she recognized it. It was the wolverine Tsubaki had taken for her animal companion in the orc city.

She limped towards the double doors, stumbling. Her vision was fading in and out. When she passed Noel, she opened her mouth to apologize, to say anything that could possibly make up for what she had done, but no sound came out.

As soon as she got inside the small room, she leaned against the wall, using it for support. Her vision was really swimming now. She moved back to her old corner and sank down. She started trying to mop up some of the blood pouring from her torso.

Noel was pushed out by the two creatures holding her. From the doors opposite her came five people. A man and a woman, unarmed and unarmored, two goblins, armed and armored, and a small child that could only be the son of the man and the woman, armed and armored.

Noel fired two shots, hitting each of the goblins in the head, killing them. She put her guns away, but the child charged at her, tripping over the chain shirt clearly made for someone twice his size. He was crying. When he got to her she caught his wrist and took the dagger from his hand. She smiled at him kindly.

"I'm not going to hurt you," she told him.

All of a sudden, a hammer swung down and broke the child's head open. The child slumped down; his mother screamed.

"I am," said Jean, walking over to silence the parents.

"Jean!" cried Noel in horror.

"What?" asked Jean, wiping gore off his hammer. "They let me out, so I killed things. That's how it works in here."

"You…they…he was just a child!" shouted Noel.

"So? He shouldn't have been in the arena," said Jean as if this were obvious.

"That doesn't mean…does it seem…quiet to you?" asked Noel slowly.

Jean looked around. The roar of the crowd had vanished. Everyone in the stands was seemingly frozen. No one was moving a muscle except for him and Noel. He looked back at her with a manic grin on his face.

"Wanna kill the crowd with me?"

The two of them had gone through about a quarter of the crowd, their corpses falling into the arena. Jean had started singing as he bashed in heads.

"_That's what the minstrel sings, join in the horrible screams, take part in murderous deeds, renowned be the lion hearted_," he sang. "_Join in the minstrelsy, wailing in endless grief, eagerly longs for more, broken bodies lay down on the ground_."

Roughly a third of the crowd was dead when time started again. Jean interrupted his singing for long enough to shout "_REVOLT_!" at the top of his voice, then continued his killing. The prisoners spilled out from the two rooms, but they seemed too downtrodden and scared to join in. Isarda, however, jumped right into it.

"_ENOUGH_!"

The shout split the air, echoing around the arena. They looked up to see the mind flayer behind Balder, holding a dagger tight to his throat.

"Balder, no!" screamed Isarda.

"Stand down or I cut his throat!" hissed the mind flayer.

Noel threw down her weapon. Jean did not. The mind flayer glared at Jean. "Do it!" he shouted.

At that moment a crossbow bolt hit the mind flayer right between the eyes. The mind flayer slumped and fell over, dead. They followed the trail of the bolt with their eyes in time to see a man in a brown cloak with his face covered by a hood teleport away. The creatures saw their master fall and scattered remarkably quickly for there being so many of them.

"Right!" said Jean brightly in a loud, carrying voice. "We need to get the fuck out of here! Anyone know a way to do that? …Anybody? No? Down to me then. Madeena!"

Immediately, a Negro woman teleported to his side. "Yes, sir?"

"Help me open the portal, won't you?" said Jean, vaulting over the bar and landing in the arena.

Together Jean and Madeena opened an enormous portal that stretched the entire arena. "Go," said Jean. "It will take you somewhere safe."

The crowd of people went through the portal. Balder jumped down from the balcony and embraced Isarda tightly before leading her through it too, Noel right after them.

"Lily, come on, the portal isn't going to stay open forever!" shouted Jean.

"God damn it, Jean, give me a fucking minute!" Lily shouted. "Internal bleeding over here!"

Lily pushed herself away from the arena wall, which she had been using for support the last several minutes and began limping towards the portal. With a noise of impatience, Jean walked over to her and wrapped one of her arms around his shoulders. To make up for this act of kindness, upon reaching the portal he pushed her through it.

* * *

><p>Song Jean was singing is Battlefield by Blind Guardian.<p>

Jean had a new alignment invented for him after killing the pregnant woman. He is now Chaotic Abomination. And the fact that we now make the joke of Jean's Abortion Hammer just means that we are all horrible people and we're going to Hell.

Chris: Alright, your fight is over. Rachael, you're -  
>Spencer: Wait, wait, wait. For good measure, I flip her over and smash her stomach in.<br>Chris: Wh...ohhh. Wow.  
>Me: Jean's Abortion Hammer. Purchasable at Spencer's Negro Outlet.<p>

^Yes, I'm a horrible person and going to Hell for that, but it was two inside jokes in one. Spencer colored a shop black once and when asked to explain what it was he said it was a store for black people. Anyone offended by that, take it out on him.

Chris: How much health do you have left?  
>Me: 33.<br>Chris: The wolverine falls on you. Take 32 points of damage.  
>Me: You really are trying to kill me!<p>

Yes, this is the reason I kept Tsubaki getting the wolverine in at all, even though she never did _anything_. Or even was brought to any battles. I kept her in because I killed her and Noel was forced to watch.


	7. How to make a dark paladin

**Faleyn **- It's quite alright, I like your comments about Jean. He certainly does come off as quite an unlikeable character. I like him very much out of character myself, but that's just me. I have _no fucking idea_ how the wolverine got there, but then I always wondered why Tsubaki ever even bothered to get an animal companion. And she was so not upset at all over watching her be murdered. Tch. Yes, we are all sick, twisted people. The killing of the fetus is still the sickest thing that's happened thus far, though.

* * *

><p>The refugees were all standing around the gate to the town when Lily and Jean arrived. There was confused muttering towards the back of the group.<p>

"Oh, what's this now?" Jean muttered to himself. "Come on, make way, make way, let me through."

Jean pushed his way through the crowd to the front. Two paladins were flanking the gate to the city. Jean let out a noise like an angry cat.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded of the older of the two.

"We are guarding this city," he said. "Its lord was not present when we arrived. This city is tainted and evil; we are in the process of converting it to the will of Pelor."

"You will do no such thing!" said Jean indignantly. "I don't know who told you you could be here, but I am the lord of this town and whatever hospitality you've been extended will be extended no longer!"

"_You_ are the lord of this forsaken hovel?" the paladin asked in surprise. His eyes then narrowed in anger. "What have you done to let this place turn to the side of evil? Nerull has long since taken this place, and even longer since forsaken it. If this is the way you run things –"

"Don't you _dare_ lecture me on how to run my people!" shouted Jean, bristling in anger. "Now step aside and let these people through!"

"We are letting no more into this town until the ones already here are cleansed," said the paladin as if this settled the matter.

"These people are refugees!" shouted Jean. "They were going to be slaughtered like cattle for sport if we had not stepped in! Will you keep them outside in the cold?"

"Our head has ordered us not to allow anyone else in," said the paladin, but he was beginning to look uncertain.

Lily limped up next to Jean. One of her arms was stretched across her stomach, not managing to conceal the copious amounts of blood. "We have injured in this group who need attending to," she said.

"We have clerics we can send out to heal your wounded if need be," the paladin said quietly, eyeing Lily's once-blue shirt.

"Oh, you're both handling this wrong," said Isarda, stepping in front of both of them. She stood up straight and held her head high. "My name is Isarda Galanodel, duchess of the elven capital. I command that you let my companions, these refugees, and I through these gates this instant."

The paladin looked as if he had been slapped in the face. Staring at Isarda, he managed out, "Y-yes, my lady, I didn't realize there was a duchess with you. Right away, ma'am. Eric, open the gates."

The younger of the two paladins opened the gates and Jean stepped aside, waving the refugees in ahead of him. Soon only he, Lily, Noel, Isarda, and Balder remained outside.

Jean walked forward to the older paladin. When they were standing face to face he growled, "You have overstayed your welcome. I will see you out of my town by sundown tomorrow or you will regret it."

"Is that a threat, my lord?" replied the paladin, standing his ground.

"Could be," Jean hissed.

The younger of the two, Eric, was staring at Noel. Noel had noticed his gaze and her eyes kept darting to him nervously.

"What?" she finally asked him.

"I know you," said Eric. "You're a thief!"

"Now, wait just a minute!" said Jean furiously, rounding on Eric. "Are you implying that one of Isarda's companions –"

"You didn't let me finish, sir," said Eric, barely glancing at him. "You're a thief, because you stole my heart."

"I-I-I'm sorry?" Noel spluttered. "What was that?"

"Will you go out with me?" asked Eric eagerly.

"I…I…what?" said Noel in disbelief.

"Will you go out to dinner with me?" repeated Eric.

"Oh, I, uh…"

There was three seconds ringing silence, and then Lily burst out laughing.

"Your reaction!" she gasped. "Hahahaha, ow, ow, ow, ow!" She doubled up laughing, one hand clutching at her wounds, the other holding tightly onto Isarda's shoulder to keep from falling over. "Ribs, ribs, remaining ribs! Ahaha, gods, it hurts to laugh. Okay…I'm good. I'm good. Sorry."

Using Isarda for support, Lily straightened herself up, still chortling to herself. Noel shot her a glare, but she could only shake her head in apology. Noel looked back at Eric.

"Yeah, alright," she said.

"Excellent," said Eric. "I'll see you tonight then."

"Eric, remember the laws of the paladin tonight," warned the older paladin. "You are young and forgetful. I would not like you to be stripped of your powers over a girl."

"Yes, sir," said Eric, but he winked at Noel as she passed.

* * *

><p>The speed at which new buildings went up to accommodate the refugees was astounding. Jean announced to his village that he needed lodgings for roughly one hundred people and it went up within hours. They even made a small building with a sign out front that said "Mayor's Friends" for the four of them.<p>

Lily and Jean both sought out the clerics as soon as they could, but for two completely different reasons. Jean screamed at them all to get out of his town and to leave it as they found it. Lily sought them out to get herself healed before she lost any more blood, as she was beginning to feel light-headed, and the stabbing pain from the cut over her missing rib every time she breathed was getting rather tiresome. Fortunately for her, Lily found the clerics first. They couldn't regrow her bone, but at least it didn't hurt anymore.

Noel was getting more and more nervous as the day went on. Why had she agreed to go out with this guy? How could she show her face? There was a reason she wore a mask and hood. And she didn't have anything formal to wear either. She thought she had a way to fix both problems. She took a deep breath and knocked.

* * *

><p>Isarda opened her mouth to allow Balder's tongue in. He kissed her passionately, slipping the straps of her dress off of her shoulders. There was a knock on the door and they broke away hastily. Balder moved her straps back in place with a mutter of, "Next time."<p>

"Come in," Isarda called. Noel nervously opened the door and peered inside. "Noel? What's wrong?"

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Noel started. "It's just that I have that date tonight and I don't have anything to wear…"

Isarda's eyes lit up at these words. "Ooh, I've got lots of things! We'll find the perfect thing for you! Now, I really think a lavender will look nice on you, I always thought purple was your color."

Noel endured as Isarda went through seemingly every dress she owned, almost as well as Balder, sitting cross-legged on the bed and hiding his impatience to have his wife to himself expertly. Eventually the girls decided on a pale gold dress before Noel decided to voice her other problem.

"Well, there's something else," said Noel uncertainly. "Due to my wish in the book, I'm not exactly…well…" She instead settled on showing them her tail and ears as opposed to explaining. "Can you do anything to help me out here?"

"I can actually," said Balder, getting off the bed and fishing through his pack. "I picked this up a while back. A wand of disguise. If my math is correct, it has two charges left, enough to hide your cat features and turn you back."

"Uh, yeah, okay, go for it," said Noel, closing her eyes.

Balder pointed the wand at her and Noel fel her body changing. When the odd sensations stopped she opened her eyes again. Her new body felt new and yet familiar at the same time.

"Hello, Tsubaki," said Balder, stowing the wand away.

Noel looked herself over and recognized her old elven body. "Great!" she said. "Thank you, thank you both. Well, I'll be off then and leave you two alone. I'm sorry again for interrupting."

"It's not a bother," said Isarda. "Now go have fun."

As soon as Noel had left the room, Balder grabbed Isarda and pushed her back onto the bed.

"Now, where were we?"

* * *

><p>Lily sat on the windowsill, one leg dangling out of the open window. She was still going over everything in her mind and singing softly to herself.<p>

"_I miss you…baby, close your eyes…let's meet in our dreams tonight…_"

She rested the side of her head against the window frame, wondering why, _why_, she had seen Xant in that prison. None of this made any sense, no matter how she put it. She had been going over this for hours. Her mind was strained and tired. She decided to go to bed and worry about it in the morning.

Before she could get off the windowsill, however, a figure left the front door of the building. It was Tsubaki, wearing a loose gold dress, which seemed very unlike the Tsubaki Lily had known. Lily let out a bitter laugh than ended quickly, slid off the windowsill, and silently closed the window.

* * *

><p>Eric was pleasant enough, though he had a habit of telling stories that he seemed to think were funny when they really weren't. Every now and again though, he would tell one that was actually funny.<p>

"So then, as the head paladin lines us all up and stares us down, he reaches Jeff, who's wearing the head paladin's own moustache stuck to his face!"

Noel laughed. She really did like Eric, and she had to admit that he could hardly have picked a more romantic spot. They had gone out to eat and were now sitting next to a secluded pond, the moonlight glinting off the surface beautifully. She looked up at him. He really was very attractive. The urge became completely overwhelming. She tackled him.

* * *

><p>Jean stood in the shadow of one of the trees closing off the pond, Madeena behind him, watching as things got rather heated. He smirked behind his mask.<p>

"Hey, Madeena," he said, not looking around. "I think I've figured out a way to get rid of my paladin problem."

* * *

><p>"Eric! Wh-what is this!"<p>

Eric looked up groggily. He was lying on his back at the pondside, Noel lying on top of him. Both were naked. The head paladin of the town and ten others were standing over him.

"Oh! Uhm, er, this, uh, this isn't what it looks like!" stammered Eric, sitting up slightly and trying to cover himself.

"I do not want to hear your filth and lies!" spat the head paladin. "You have dirtied yourself and your soul upon some common woman. You are henceforth cast from our ranks until such time that we see fit!"

They turned and walked away, leaving Eric in the dust. He gaped after them, looked at Noel, back at their retreating backs, back at Noel, then at the spot where the paladins had been. He closed his mouth, looked back at Noel and said, "It was worth it."

Noel smiled and pulled her dress back on. "Good, I'm glad. Same time tonight?"

"Y-yeah!" he said. "I'll find us a place where we won't be caught as easily."

* * *

><p>Noel walked in on Isarda and Balder at the kitchen table, eating breakfast.<p>

"Hey, have a nice time?" asked Isarda.

"Yeah, I did," said Noel. "Listen, I want to stay like this for a bit longer. Is there any way to extend the spell?"

"No, besides making it permanent," said Balder. "I don't know if you want to do that, but if you decide to, the wand is on the bedside table in our room. It only has one charge left, so use it wisely. Oh, and be sure to concentrate very hard on what you want. Distractions can cause unwanted results."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," said Noel, walking up the steps to change and return the dress to Isarda's room.

She passed Lily's bedroom on the way to return the dress. Her door was slightly ajar. She was still sleeping, though fitfully. She was tossing and turning, whimpering in her sleep. Noel caught the word "Xant."

She entered Isarda's room next door to Lily's and laid the dress on the bed. She looked up and saw the wand lying on the bedside table. She debated for a moment. Did she really want to go back to the old identity she wished away, just for a man she went on one date with and had a casual fuck? Would she only be doing it for him? Her face had started appearing on wanted posters; she could get away from that by making the change permanent.

She picked up the wand and pointed it at herself, closing her eyes and thinking hard about what she wanted to look like. Tsubaki's body firm in her mind, she felt her body grow very cold, then very hot.

"No…NO! _Xant_!" There was a heavy silence on the other side of the wall, followed by the sound of soft crying.

The shout alone was not what distracted Noel, but the thought of whether or not Noel should go in and see if she could help. When the wand finished its work, Noel's body felt completely unfamiliar and different. She looked up at the mirror on the door of the armoire against the wall, and saw that she was human.

* * *

><p>"Alright, Madeena," hissed Jean now that Eric was alone by the pond. "Do your thing. Make this fallen paladin our puppet."<p>

"With pleasure, my lord," smiled Madeena, her flesh peeling away to reveal scarlet skin underneath. A woman of unspeakable beauty stepped out of the flesh suit and walked up to Eric.

Eric never knew what hit him. The succubus grabbed him and kissed him, in doing so sucked the pureness of his soul out. He slumped forward. His hair darkened and his brown eyes acquired a slight red tint. He looked back up as Jean walked up next to the succubus.

"Welcome to your new life, my dark paladin," said Jean. "I have a problem that I need taking care of. You remember the paladins who you used to call your friends, but cast you from their ranks for indulging in an act of lust? I've lured all but a few from this place and to the town just a mile west of here with news of a great evil waiting to meet them there. That would be you. I need you to go there, now. Leave none alive."

Eric grinned manically. "Yes, my master."

* * *

><p>Song Lily was singing was "With Eyes Wide Shut" by blessthefall. Don't own.<p>

Andrew got so pissed off at Chris for making him human, it was hilarious.

Cookie to everyone who caught the Firefly reference.

The sex between Noel and Eric more than likely would not have happened if not for a natural 1 on Andrew's will save. Good times.

Also, good news. I haven't been updating as much for fear of catching up with the campaign, but we've reached the decision to kill the character of the person who never shows up and is the reason we haven't played for a month and a half. Not saying who it is that's gonna die, but once they're out of the way we'll start playing once a week again and I can update quicker.

If you guys really want me to, I'll write out the sex scenes and add them as bonus chapters. Reason I didn't was because Lily and Xant's meant something big for both of them, and these both were just casual fucks. Two, I'm on vacation and using a flash drive with the story's file on it and a shared laptop with my mother and nine year old brother. That only gets a connection if it's on my lap. Which is the third reason. It would've been a lot longer and this laptop only works on a lap. It's been five days and I can feel my ovaries dying.

Me: So I was talking to Rachel and she proposed the question, "What if Lily had gotten pregnant?" I thought about it and was like, well shit.  
>Chris: "Mommy, where's daddy?" "Daddy's dead because he was selfless and a bastard for it. Now I'm gonna go kill myself, be back never."<br>This made my day, so I decided to share. In that same conversation I found out that the only reason Xant was unable to return was because the wording of my wish was "total metagaming." Apparently wishing with the number one priority of getting him out of eternal torture is metagaming. God damn it, Chris.


	8. How to build a hottle

**Faleyn **- Noel is kind of stupid/naive in general, to be honest. Although Andrew did only agree because I started laughing at his reaction, then decided to make it cannon in a split-second decision by saying "I grab Isarda's shoulder for support." Yes, Jean. The Uncaring Bastard. I still don't know whether I'll write the sex scenes or not. I don't have the kind of attachment to them as I did with Xant, and Lily being my own character it was a given that I'm very attached to her. And I've got a project going on with a friend that is going to take up a good chunk of my time very soon. I might though. We'll see. Also, thank you very much~ Less than three.

* * *

><p>Two weeks had passed. Noel had moved in with Eric, not noticing that his features had darkened, as he was still the same not-so-funny man. Lily had gotten her armor replaced, but was wearing it about as often as she had worn the old chain shirt. She had also cut her hair to shoulder length again. Jean and Madeena were keeping a close eye on the goings on in the town, particularly on Eric's actions. Isarda and Balder went about their business as usual, though Isarda felt under the weather every so often, which sent Balder into an over-protective frenzy.<p>

Lily was in a room, hot and dark. The walls were dark red stone. In confusion, she looked around. There was a scream of agony behind her, and she whipped around.

Xant, in his half demon form, was chained to a table. He was almost naked, clad in only a loincloth. Demons surrounded him, burning him, cutting him, stabbing him. Xant kept screaming.

"No!" screamed Lily, her voice significantly higher than usual. She clapped her hands over her mouth, tears forming in her eyes. "No, no, no, no, no…!"

The demons paid her no heed, torturing the man she loved in ways she had never imagined could exist. She couldn't take it, she couldn't watch him writhing and screaming anymore.

"Stop it!" she screamed hysterically at the demons. "Stop it, don't hurt him anymore! I wished him away from this! STOP IT, YOU BASTARDS, STOP IT!"

The demons all looked up at her slowly, and Lily felt fear grip her heart, but stood her ground.

"Lily," hissed Xant. He had a very ugly look on his face. "This is your fault, Lily. You're the one who did this to me."

"No!" cried Lily. "No, I never wanted this! I would never want this! I tried to save you from this! I would've done anything to keep you safe from this! Xant, please, believe me…"

"It's too late, Lily," said Xant. The other demons vanished; his chains broke. He rose from the table slowly, some of his full demonic features twisting his body. His eyes acquired cat-like slits for pupils; fangs grew in his mouth; leathery, bat-like wings sprouted from his shoulders. "It was always too late…"

"Xant…please…" Lily took a step back and he slowly advanced upon her. "Please, I never wanted you to have to endure this…I spent my wish on you first, so that you wouldn't have to…Please…"

Xant leapt at her, tackling her to the ground. Straddling her waist, he wrapped his hands around her throat and pressed hard, his claws digging into her flesh and causing blood to run down his fingers. He smiled as he watched the life drain from her eyes…

Lily woke with a start, lying tense and still under the blanket of her bed. Her room was dark; it was still night. Trembling, she sat up, one hand reaching up to rub her throat. She blinked, causing the tears that had been threatening to spill to roll down her cheeks. She swallowed hard, pushing back the covers and swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She stood up.

She cried out as her back thudded against the wall, a hand pressed hard to her clavicle, feet not touching the ground. She winced in pain as she felt the bone cracking. Fear clawed at her insides as she stared Xant in the face, a scary smile on his demonic features. In the hand that wasn't holding her against the wall he held a greatsword with a dark blue blade, purple shadows swirling around it. Lily recognized it as the demonic blade he had killed the dragon with years ago.

"You killed me," he hissed, his face very close to hers, "and now I'm gonna kill you."

He slashed the blade across her chest, barely an inch of flesh and sinew keeping her from being cut in half. Blood poured down her body. She coughed, blood spilling from her mouth. Xant released her, and she fell.

"Ah! No!" Lily sat bolt upright in bed, drenched in sweat and breathing hard as though she had just run a long distance. Her heart was hammering in her chest as though it was trying to escape, but it was still beating so hard it hurt.

Sunlight was filtering in through the window. With a dry sob, she pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face in them, trying to hold back her tears.

"I'm sorry you have to endure this," said a sad voice next to her bed.

Lily looked up, expecting to see it and yet still receiving a blow of shock to the gut. Xant stood next to her, in what appeared to be his human form with the exception of the white, feathery wings sprouting from his shoulder blades. He wasn't giving her a sad smile this time, but just had a sad look on his face, as if he dearly wanted to comfort her but couldn't.

Lily looked back at her knees, but she could still see him out of the corner of her eye. "Is it really you this time?" she asked in a hollow voice. When Xant didn't answer, she stretched out her hand to touch him. It went through him and he vanished. She sighed and pulled her arm back.

She slid out of bed and walked over to the window, looking out it without really seeing, hugging herself. There was a soft knock on the door.

"It's open," she called, not turning around.

"Uh, Miss Lily…are you alright?" came Balder's voice.

"Yeah…yeah, I'm fine," she said softly, looking over her shoulder at him. "Why do you ask?"

"I thought…I thought I heard you talking to yourself," admitted Balder.

"I'm alright, Balder," she repeated, turning back to the window.

There was an uneasy silence before Balder spoke again. "Isarda and I are going to have some breakfast if you would like to join us."

"No, thank you," said Lily softly. "No, I'm not hungry. In any case…I have something I'd like to take care of this morning sooner rather than later."

"As you wish, Lily," said Balder. "I'll see you later, I suppose."

He closed the door behind him, deciding it best not to tell her that he had clearly heard every word she said, and no one else.

* * *

><p>All of the paladins were long gone from the town, though a few clerics remained. They had set up an almost caravan-like camp at the edge of town. Lily had spoken to some of them on occasion, and walked into the camp, approaching the cleric who headed the small group. The cleric bowed his head as she approached, and Lily inclined her head respectfully.<p>

"Good morning," he said. "What can we do for you, madam?"

"I had a…a question," said Lily. "It is possible to speak to the dead, correct?"

"Yes, it is," said the cleric. "I could allow you to speak with them now, if you give me their name."

"No, no, that's the thing," said Lily. "He's not technically dead. He's also not technically…well, human."

"How do you mean?" asked the cleric.

"Well…would it be possible to contact an angel?" she asked hesitantly. "If it is, I would pay whatever you wanted, that's not a problem…"

The cleric looked down, frowning, clearly pondering the question. After a long while, he slowly shook his head. "The spell used to speak with the dead is used to speak with those who are truly dead. Angels are immortal, so they would not be affected by the spell. I'm sorry," he added, seeing her expression sadden.

"Could I…scry him, at least?" she asked.

"I doubt it," said the cleric. "Angels are extremely powerful creatures; they'd be able to resist a scrying attempt."

Lily reluctantly nodded and turned to leave. "Thank you anyway," she said hollowly as she started to walk away.

"Madam?"

Lily stopped and looked over her shoulder.

"Let me just say," said the cleric, "that you are extremely lucky to be that close to an angel. Not many people have the luck of a guardian angel."

"Right," she said, forcing a small smile and beginning to walk again. Her hand subconsciously moved to her wrist and she began to scratch at her scars. "Lucky."

* * *

><p>Jean was in his office when there was a violent knock on the door, followed by it bursting open.<p>

"People usually wait until I call them in to barge through the door," said Jean, not looking up.

"And people usually don't forget about a mission after a month!"

Jean sighed and looked up. "What is it _now_, Claire?"

Claire looked livid. "Carver!" she cried. "You forgot about him, _again_! I asked you to go to the Sunset Mountains and bring him back, and here you are, right back where you started!"

"Perhaps you didn't know, but we ran into a very unexpected event and had to get ourselves and scores of refugees out of there as quickly as possible," said Jean.

"Of course I know that!" shouted Claire. "I know everything that happens to you! And I gave you time to settle the refugees in and to recover from the ordeal! But when you showed no sign of picking the mission back up, I decided to step in and remind you!"

"I've only just returned to my town," said Jean. "I'm not going to leave it again so soon."

"I had a feeling you'd say something like that," said Claire, "so I took the liberty of calling in fifty druids, three of them archdruids, to watch your town while you're gone."

"You can't do that!" said Jean, outraged, standing up.

"I already did," said Claire waspishly.

"You can't just call in people to run my town!" shouted Jean. "There's no place for they to stay, for one thing!"

"You don't see the business opportunity?" said Claire. "You could build one building with many bedrooms, and charge them unreasonable prices to stay in them per night. You could call it a ho_tel_."

Jean stopped. "That's genius," he admitted. He moved to the door and pointed at the nearest villager. "You! Gather the people. Build me a hottle!"

He turned back to Claire as the man scampered away. "I'll go find Carver, if only to get you out of my town and out of my face," he growled.

"That's what I like to hear," said Claire, with a triumphant smile. She turned and left the room.

Jean stormed back to his desk and sat down. He sat there, fuming, for a few seconds before pounding his hands violently on the desk. "Damn!"

"Excuse me?" said an old, trembling voice.

"What is it now?" demanded Jean, looking up and freezing when he saw the man.

"Only an old, blind man wishing to give a message to his only son, my boy," said the old man.

Jean stared. "Dad…"

* * *

><p>I'm so pissed off at Chris, having just found out last night that scrying him was completely possible, Xant would just have a +5 to his Will save for being on another plane. And if he's watching over her, shouldn't he know that she's trying to see him and not even roll his Will? Let it happen, knowing that seeing him would reassure her? Fucking fuck.<p>

Balder got a natural 20 on his Listen as he was passing my room. A friend of mine who read that part before it was finished asked if she talks in her sleep. She does, but not loud enough to be heard. He heard "Ah! No!" followed by "Is it really you this time?"

Way back before we played this session I told my friend Gabby that I was going to ask to scry him. What she said cracked me up and I still laugh at the mental image when I think of it. "You know, Heaven has everything, past, present, and future. Watch you scry him and he's playing Mario Kart."

The following Skype conversation happened last night, with the same friend who asked if Lily talked in her sleep. I'm Lily, obviously.

[12:43:53 AM] Lily: Xant was 9 1/2, 2 inches thick.  
>[12:43:57 AM] Genesis Frog: FUCKING!<br>[12:43:58 AM] Genesis Frog: WOW!  
>[12:44:04 AM] Lily: Demon.<br>[12:44:06 AM] Lily: x3  
>[12:44:09 AM] Genesis Frog: Big demon dick.<br>[12:44:15 AM] Genesis Frog: Once you go demon, you never go back.  
>[12:44:18 AM] Lily: Average demon dick.<br>[12:44:24 AM] Genesis Frog: AVERAGE?  
>[12:44:30 AM] Lily: DEMON.<br>[12:44:30 AM] Genesis Frog: Jesus...  
>[12:44:47 AM] Genesis Frog: So...how big can demon dick get then?<br>[12:45:01 AM] Lily: And yet Lily could tell that he was not hard at a glance.  
>[12:45:42 AM] Lily: Well if a demon is in a human form like Xant was (although most don't enjoy that) the max would probably be...12 or 13.<br>[12:45:50 AM] Lily: Maybe?  
>[12:46:03 AM] Lily: Xant didn't like it either.<br>[12:46:10 AM] Lily: Until Lily softened it out.  
>[12:46:13 AM] Lily: HIM**<br>[12:46:18 AM] Lily: SOFTENED HIM OUT**  
>[12:46:32 AM] Lily: Although she did soften it out after a couple minutes in her mouth.<p>

Don't ask how the conversation turned abruptly to the size of Xant's penis. Because it happened really fast and I'm not entirely sure how.

Xant is getting increasingly violent with each dream, isn't he?


	9. How to come back from the dead

**Faleyn** - The Xant in Lily's dreams is definitely not the Xant she knew, that's for sure. I wish I could scry angels too, but _somebody_ *cough Chris cough* doesn't want me to. Oh fuck, I was talking to him last night and I forgot to bring it up. Claire really wants Carver back, to the point where she's beginning to annoy us, Spencer especially. Whenever she's brought up out of character he goes "I just want my town back!" Haha, that's not even the worst of the Skype conversations, I've had several in depth conversations about the Lily/Xant sex scene with that boy. Yeah, we all got a kick out of the hotel line, but Spencer calling it a hottle to sound authentic had to be the best.

* * *

><p>"Dad, what are you doing here?" asked Jean. "How did you find me?"<p>

"It's your mother," said Jean's father, ignoring his latter question.

"What about her?" asked Jean, worry beginning to sink into his veins. What could have happened to make his father seek him out here?

"She's dying," said his father grimly. "She wanted to see you one last time, before she…"

Jean moved around the desk and grabbed both his father's shoulders. "What do you mean she's dying?" demanded Jean. "What's happened to her?"

"She fell ill, some time ago…" His father trailed off, looking down.

"Take me there," said Jean. "Now."

* * *

><p>Long forgotten childhood memories flooded through Jean's mind as his father led him through the small town he had grown up in. His father guided him to the house where Jean had been born, but he needn't have bothered; Jean could have found his way there blindfolded.<p>

"She's upstairs, in her room," said his father softly, gesturing up them with his cane. "I'll stay down here, and let you be alone."

Jean nodded and walked almost cautiously up the stairs, knowing what awaited him and yet afraid to see it. The upstairs landing was dark, but there was light coming from a room at the end of the hall. Jean walked to it.

His mother lay in the bed in the corner of the room, the curtains thrown wide to allow the sun in. She looked sick and frail, her once shining black hair lying limp and grey.

"Jean?" she asked in a feeble voice. She strained to see him through dull eyes. She coughed, but it sounded weak, as if she no longer had the strength to clear her lungs.

Jean crossed the room and kneeled at her bedside, removing Hoolron Vishnir from his face and setting it aside.

"I'm here, mother," he said softly. "How are you feeling?"

"Not well, my son," she rasped. "My time is very nearly at its end."

"Don't say that," said Jean. "You'll be fine."

His mother gave a laugh that sounded painful. "You were never a gullible boy, Jean," she said. "You know as well as I do that I will not last the night."

"Mom," he started.

"Hush," she said. "I won't have the strength left to speak much longer, so I need to tell you what I need you to do."

"Anything, mom," said Jean gruffly.

"Do you remember the house in the woods?" she asked. "Your father and I would take you there in the summers when you were a child. Do you remember where it is?"

Jean nodded. "I remember it well," he said.

"There are some belongings of mine in the attic," she said weakly. "I want you to go there and retrieve them for me. Please, son."

"Of course, mom," he said. "Is there anything else?"

"Sit with me," she said. She sighed and closed her eyes, as if she no longer had the strength to keep them open.

Jean sat there in silence with his mother for hours, never moving, holding her hand. The sun was setting when the slow, faint sound of her breathing stopped, and her hand grew cold in his. Jean raised his bowed head and saw the peace of death on her features.

Rage as Jean had never felt before coursed through his body. He would never, never forgive the gods for taking her away from him! Power radiated off of him in shadowed waves, his body tense and his eyes glowing.

There was the cracking of wood as the foundations of the house broke from the sheer power Jean was expelling, but he and the bed containing his mother's corpse remained floating in the air and the house crumbled around them. Slowly, he and the bed floated to the ground and touched lightly amidst the remains.

Jean felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up to see his father. Gradually the glow from his eyes faded and the power diminished. He stood and his father pulled him into a brief hug.

"She's dead," said Jean hollowly when he pulled away. His father kept a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't know what that was just now, and I don't want to," his father said. "I'm sorry, son."

"I need to go," said Jean flatly, picking up his mask and putting it back on. "I must return to my town before those cursed druids take over. Thank you for taking me to see her."

"I should be thanking you for coming, and for sitting with her," he said. "She was asking for you. It meant a lot to her to see you one last time."

Jean nodded and walked away. When he was out of sight of the town, he opened a portal back to his town, and vanished.

Claire was in the square surrounded by other druids as Jean walked by, heading straight for where the others were staying. Claire gave him a deeply sympathetic look as he walked by, as if she knew what had just transpired. Which, he reminded himself, with her ability to use trees and animals as spies, she probably did.

* * *

><p>Lily wandered the town. She had considered returning to her room after being turned away from the clerics, but then decided that she didn't want to return yet. The image of Xant was still fresh in her mind, and if she was honest with herself, she was afraid of seeing him again. She couldn't summon or scry him, yet she was still seeing him. She knew this wasn't normal, and it scared her. And every time he disappeared it was like losing him again.<p>

"Lily!"

She stopped and looked over her shoulder as Jean approached her. "What do you want, Jean?" she asked flatly.

"Get ready to leave," he said sharply. "We're leaving as soon as possible."

"What? Where?" she asked.

"An errand," said Jean evasively, "and then we still need to get Carver."

"Right," she said.

"I've told Isarda and Balder, but I can't find Noel," he continued. "If you see her, tell her what I've told you, and that I'll be waiting at the front gate." He walked away before she could nod.

Lily rolled her eyes in annoyance and started back to the house she had been staying at, trying not to think about how much she would not like to be in that room. She had almost reached the house when she heard another summons.

"Excuse me, miss," said a young man. "Are you Lily?"

"Yes, what is it?" she asked.

"Um, I have a note for you from someone named Noel," he said, holding out a folded piece of parchment.

"Uh, thanks," she said uncertainly, nodding to the young man and stepping inside the building.

She went upstairs to her room before sitting on the bed and unfolding it. She read it through a few times before sighing, refolding it and slipping it into her pocket and turning to pack her bag.

_Lily, though it pains me to say so, I no longer wish to travel with you, Isarda, Balder, and Jean. I am happy here and don't want to go adventuring anymore. Go on without me, and good luck. –Noel._

* * *

><p>"Where's Noel?" asked Isarda.<p>

"She decided not to come with us anymore," said Lily, taking out the note and handing it over for the others to see.

All three of them read it through. Jean handed it back to Lily, who slipped it into her bag.

"It can't be helped, then," said Jean. "Let's go."

He turned abruptly and started down the path, Isarda and Balder close behind. Lily walked after them at a slightly slower pace.

They travelled for several days. As much as she tried to, Lily couldn't help but feel that she was slowing them down, a feeling that was clearly shared by Jean by the looks her gave her. It was becoming harder and harder to bite back pointing out that she was human. She needed to eat and sleep more often than Jean, who didn't seem to need to do either. Isarda and Balder were elves, so they didn't need to stop as often, but at least they accepted it with good grace.

Lily was at the rear of the group on the evening of the fourth day when something caught her eye. She looked to her right where she thought she saw it. No, not here. Not in front of everyone else.

On the top of a hill rising next to the path, a man stood with his back to them. He had shoulder length black hair and simple black silk clothing. Feathery white wings sprouted from his shoulders. He was looking up at the sunset, not paying attention to the group. He looked over his shoulder quickly, as though Lily's gaze had startled him. Visibly relaxing, Xant gave her a small smile and raised his hand to shoulder height in a small wave. Then he faded away and was gone.

Lily lowered her half closed eyes to her feet, looking sadly at the ground. She raised a loose fist to her chest and kept it there, right over the scar Samuel had put over her heart with his crossbow bolt. None of this ever would have happened if not for that man. A most unwanted thought crossed her mind. She closed her eyes, trying to force the thought away, but a part of her knew that it needed to be accepted. She was seeing Xant and hearing him when no one else could. Her lingering grief was creating him. She was going insane.

That was the only explanation. She was going insane. She quietly accepted the fact, but decided that she wasn't going to tell the others. If she were cursed to see Xant everywhere she went and never move on from him, so be it. She would accept it.

No sooner had she thought this than Isarda's scream split the air. Looking sharply upward, she saw Balder sinking to the ground, Isarda desperately trying to hold him up. He slunk to the ground, a bolt sticking out of his chest. He started to fade, and then he simply wasn't there.

Through the numb shock of what had just happened, they looked up slowly. A man stood off the path ahead of them. He had a brown cloak with a hood over a green-brown tunic. Even covered head to toe in burns, he was painfully familiar. He carried two crossbows.

"No!" shouted Lily, horror and disbelief etched onto her features, raising her bow. "You're dead! We saw you die!"

"I only wanted to be remembered," said Samuel fiercely, ignoring her. He didn't have the accent he had had when they had known him. "That's it! And you couldn't even do that much, could you?"

"What did you do with Balder?" demanded Isarda, rising to her feet.

"We saw you explode!" shouted Lily, some of her shock ebbing and the familiar rage taking its place. This was the man who had killed Xant.

"Your precious Balder is safe…for now," he said with a twisted smile. "And that was a different one of me you're thinking of, dear."

"What do you mean, a different one of you?" asked Jean, cutting across the bristling Lily. Dear had been what Xant had called her.

"Oh, details," said Samuel. "I'm only here to deliver a message. You had better talk to the one you know best if you want those pesky details. We are much stronger than we were before. You would do best not to hinder us. Yep, that's it. I'm off now."

A glowing blue arrow shot past him as he turned, grazing his burned cheek. He looked back, raising an eyebrow at Lily. Her eyes were slits and she was quivering in barely suppressed rage. Rolling his eyes, he pointed one of his crossbows at her and pulled the trigger. Lily fell to one knee with a small cry of pain. Samuel vanished before she could raise her bow again.

Shaking off Isarda, Lily stood up. She ripped the crossbow bolt from her knee and threw it violently to the ground, her face set into a mask of hatred. The man who had taken away the man she loved was still alive, and she was going to kill him, making sure this time that he was dead!

* * *

><p>Yay yay yay! Samuel's alive! Yaaaay!<p>

I really did like Samuel as much as Lily did not, and Chris did too. To quote him, "So I was like, I like this character. He didn't get enough time. I'll bring him back."

So, we've just got a big D&D chat on Skype and we (meaning I) change the topic to the date and current name of the campaign. We change the name of the campaign almost every session to funny things said, and the campaign title often has nothing to do with the actual game. For awhile it was "If you want to disarm a mage, do you rip out their heart?" which was just something Spencer said while we were waiting on Andrew. Again. The DM and I had a topic-and-old-title fight that I wanted to share that I now can share now that all the jokes are out in the open.

[8/10/2011 2:55:27 PM] *** Reynolds has changed the conversation topic to "Wendesday: Chris's Game god damnit!" ***  
>[810/2011 3:40:21 PM] KleptoKura: It appears that everyone has died  
>[810/2011 3:46:22 PM] Reynolds: shame i wanted to be the cause  
>[810/2011 3:47:37 PM] KleptoKura: So sorry to hear your not  
>[810/2011 3:57:25 PM] Reynolds: yeah...  
>[810/2011 3:57:31 PM] Reynolds: Would have done it with fire  
>[810/2011 6:15:37 PM] Rachael: Chris!  
>[810/2011 6:15:38 PM] Rachael: Less than three!  
>[810/2011 6:15:43 PM] Reynolds: yep thats me  
>[810/2011 6:17:07 PM] *** Rachael has changed the conversation topic to "Wendesday: Chris' Game: I can has Balder?" ***  
>[810/2011 6:17:31 PM] *** Reynolds has changed the conversation topic to "Wendesday: Chris' Game: no you cannot." ***  
>[810/2011 6:17:55 PM] *** Rachael has changed the conversation topic to "Wendesday: Chris' Game: Shut up and build me a hottle!" ***  
>[810/2011 6:18:25 PM] Rachael: Spencer and Susan on?

Also, just thought I'd share. Chris has promised as of last night that he will be online on Wednesday and that the one holding us back will die (Much to my relief and Spencer's misgivings) but on the flip side of that if he is not, and we don't play (although he is popping on at random times that aren't his designated day and asking if we want to move the main game along) there are only two chapters left before I catch up with the campaign. Sadface.


	10. How to make a cage

"They _what_!" demanded Noel.

"They left a couple of days ago," said Claire calmly. "I thought you had told them that you didn't wish to join them."

"I never told them any such thing!" said Noel. "Don't you think that if I had I would've sought them out and told them?"

"They received a note, signed by you, saying that you didn't want to tag along anymore," said Claire.

"Let me see this note!" demanded Noel, significantly angry now.

"Oh, I can't do that," said Claire in surprise. "I expect they threw it out, or took it with them. Nothing is stopping you from joining them, you know. They just have a decent head start on you."

"I've got to go after them then," she said. "Eric," she said apologetically, turning to the paladin next to her, "I'm sorry, but they might need my help."

"I understand," said Eric, pulling her close into a hug. "I'll help you get ready, and get you a wagon. I have to stay here though, otherwise I would be coming with you, I promise."

"Thank you, Eric," she said, relieved. She turned back to Claire. "I'll leave as soon as I'm ready."

"And I'll see you as soon as you have Carver," said Claire. "Unless, of course, you get sidetracked. Again."

* * *

><p>The group had been unusually silent in the few days since they had encountered Samuel. Jean only seemed to be focused on the task at hand and moving as far as they could per day. Isarda was silently grieving for Balder, his absence excruciatingly noticeable. She was trying to convince herself that he wasn't dead, but even if that were true, him being kidnapped by Samuel was hardly more comforting. Lily was still fuming, old feelings she had long since buried dragged back up again with the reappearance of the man she hated the most, burning her from the inside. Her fears of slowing down the others only increased, as now she was limping from the injury Samuel had inflicted, but she refused to let Isarda patch her up or show any sign of pain. She also refused to admit to herself that he probably wouldn't have shot her at all if she hadn't shot at him in cold blood.<p>

"That's it," announced Jean, breaking the silence that had lasted several hours that evening.

They were on the edge of the Snakewood, looking at a homely looking little cottage nestled a little ways into the trees.

"What are we supposed to be looking at?" asked Lily.

"We're staying the night in that house," Jean declared. "I have an errand I have to run in that house, and then we'll move on to get that damnable dragonkin."

Lily made a noncommittal noise and Isarda said nothing. Jean didn't look to see if they were following him as he led the way into the small house.

The house had the air of a once quaint little home that had been neglected and little used in many years. A thick layer of dust covered everything, making small puffs where they stepped. Lily went over to the fireplace and started examining the trinkets on the mantelpiece. Isarda stood in a corner, looking as if she did not care much what she did.

"You two just wait right here while I do something," said Jean. "Then I'll show you where you'll be sleeping. Don't touch anything, _Lily_."

"Trust me, Jean, stealing your precious family portraits is the last thing on my mind considering the circumstances," said Lily sincerely and somewhat indignantly.

Jean turned away from her without replying and stormed up the stairs, scattering more dust and dirt as he went. Isarda's eyes followed him up the stairs and she shifted restlessly. After what seemed like a long pause, she said, "I'm going to have a look upstairs, okay?"

"Alright, have fun," said Lily distractedly, not turning around to look at her, still examining the sitting room.

Isarda waiting a few moments to see if she would say anything else, and then turned and started up the stairs. There was a trail of disrupted dust that showed that Jean had gone up to the attic, but Isarda turned the other way and moved to check out the bedrooms. She got a shock as she looked into the master bedroom at the very end of the hall.

"What are you doing here?" spat Isarda.

"Hoping to talk to you away from the others," said Samuel calmly. He still didn't have his accent, but he wasn't covered in burns as he had been when they had encountered him a few days ago. He appeared to have no weapons on his person.

"And why did you want to talk to me?" growled Isarda, seriously considering hitting him with a well placed lightning bolt.

"I wanted to negotiate," said Samuel. "Nothing wrong with that, is there? I assume you're worried sick about your husband."

"What have you done with Balder?" Isarda snarled viciously. Samuel actually flinched at the rage in her voice, quickly regaining his composure.

"Why don't I just show you?" he said, waving his hand in front of the window.

The window had been showing a view of the woods on the other side of the dusty curtains. It changed instead to show a stone, windowless room, lit with torches. Isarda clapped her hands over her mouth to stifle her scream.

Balder lay chained to a table in the center of the room. Parts of his flesh had been carved away, revealing the muscle underneath. Great wounds covered his body. He had clearly been tortured through the majority of the days he had been missing. He appeared to be unconscious, his ragged breathing the only thing betraying the fact that he was still alive.

"What have you done to him?" Isarda whimpered.

"I will be willing to give him back," said Samuel, ignoring her question, "if you will fetch something for me first."

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Hoolron Vishnir," said Samuel. Seeing her look of confusion, he added, "That mask your friend Jean wears at all times. Get it from him, and bring it back here, and you can have your husband back."

Isarda looked at him in resignation, backing slowly out of the room. She took a fortifying glance at Balder through the window.

"Wait there," she said fearfully, running from the room.

* * *

><p>Jean looked around the dark and spidery attic, finding what he was looking for almost immediately amidst the old, musty furniture and chests. He pulled the small, sky blue box from the top of one of the chests and opened it. An amulet lay inside. It had eyes.<p>

"It's about time, I was thinking you had forgotten the way," said his mother's voice. The eyes on the amulet narrows slightly.

"Mom?" said Jean, taking out the amulet.

"Yes, honey, it's me," she said. "Mommy's a lich, sweetie. I really thought you had figured that out."

"I never really cared enough to try," he said, slipping her phylactery around his neck. "So why did you stay with dad all those years if you were a lich."

The eyes on the phylactery rolled. "I love your father," she said. "It's part of the reason I haven't killed him. But I have stayed there long enough, and it's time for me to move on. But I needed you to get me out of the cursed box. Now I can form myself a new body." She fell abruptly silent and her eyes darted to the staircase. "Someone's coming."

Jean didn't even have time to react before he heard Isarda shout the spell. He suddenly found himself in a space much too small for him, bending him over and completely preventing him from moving an inch.

"Isarda!" he snarled. "What are you playing at?"

Isarda didn't say a word. She walked purposefully up to Jean's dog-kennel-sized prison and looked down at him, her eyes oddly blank. She reached down and took the mask from his face. Without a word, she turned and walked back down the stairs, ignoring Jean's livid shouting after her.

* * *

><p>"I've got it," said Isarda flatly, handing the mask to Samuel. "Now give me Balder back."<p>

"Yes, yes, you can have your husband back," said Samuel, tearing his gaze away from the mask and looking at her. "However, I never told you when. Thanks for Hoolron Vishnir."

Samuel swept past her and was in the doorframe when Isarda recovered from her shock. With a scream of rage, a fireball hit Samuel in the back, knocking him forward to land on his stomach at the top of the stairs.

"Oh, you bitch," he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and checking for blood. Isarda advanced on him, lightning crackling in her palms. Before she could strike at him, however, Samuel grabbed her arm and flipped her down the stairs.

Halfway down, Isarda stopped and lay on her back. Samuel stood over her, black magic forming in his hand. Isarda thrust her hand upwards, a lightning bolt shooting from her palm. It hit Samuel in the chest, forcing him into the air. There was a crack as the roof broke, and Samuel vanished before she could strike at him again.

Lily appeared at the bottom of the stairs, drawn by the noise. She looked in confusion as Isarda picked herself up.

"What…happened…?" she asked slowly, her eyes moving up to the gaping hole in the roof.

"Isarda!" came a furious shout. They both turned to see Jean storming down the stairs, clearly broken free of the prison spell. "What the hell do you think you've done?"

As he yelled at her, they noticed that he seemed a bit reluctant to open his mouth. When he did, his teeth seemed more pointed and jagged than they should be. Isarda backed away from him as he advanced upon her, until they had both gotten off of the stairs and were in the living room.

"I'm sorry," said Isarda flatly and without any real emotion. "I did what I thought I had to do."

"Am I missing something?" asked Lily.

"Why, yes, you are."

Everyone turned towards the new voice to see a man sitting at the bottom of the stairs.

"What are you doing in my house?" demanded Jean furiously.

"Calm down," said the man. "You know me. My name is Cas."

"We know you?" asked Lily. "From where?"

"If you don't know, I'm not going to tell you, love," said Cas.

"Why are you here?" demanded Jean.

"Relax, I'm just here to deliver a message," said Cas. "You're after the dragonkin, right? Well, I'm here to tell you that you can now find said dragonkin at Baldur's Gate."

"What?" asked Lily. "But he was at the Sunset Mountains."

Cas shrugged. "He moved."

"How do we know we can trust you?" Jean spat.

Cas laughed shortly. "I suppose you can't, if you can't even trust each other."

"What are you talking about?" asked Isarda. "We…we trust each other…"

"Really?" said Cas, raising an eyebrow. "You certainly keep a lot of secrets from each other if you trust each other so much."

"What would you know about that?" spat Jean.

Cas looked at him. "Quite a bit, actually. Have you told these ladies about your dark little minions that answer to your beck and call? Your succubus? Your dark paladin? Your lich?"

He turned away from Jean's furious face and looked at Lily. "And you. Have you told them that you're seeing and hearing him all over town? Have you told them that you're going insane over events long since past?"

Lily backed rapidly away, her horrified eyes never leaving Cas'. Her fist was held loosely over her heart again as she stood on the other side of the room, gaping at Cas past the fingers of her other hand, covering her mouth. Isarda was giving her a deeply sympathetic look. She looked back at Cas when he addressed her, confused. She was sure she had no secrets to hide.

"And you," he said. "You charge into battle and take unnecessary risks, with no regard at all for the life growing inside you." He laughed and vanished.

Isarda stared, shocked, at the place where he had vanished. Her gaze slid down to her stomach and she visibly paled.

It was Lily who uncertainly broke the stunned, ringing silence.

"…Congratulations?"

* * *

><p>It is 8:13 pm on Wednesday night. Tomorrow half our party has school. I'm online. Jean made his glorious appearance in the sky a little over an hour ago. Where the fuck is our DM and Isarda! I have one more chapter before I catch up to the campaign and I've got 42 and a half things I want Lily to say. Come on, guys, it's been two months.<p>

Now that everything I wanted to say, but couldn't say on Skype because of Spencer accusing me of being obsessed (again), has been said, yes, Isarda is pregnant. A few weeks along. Lily is nuts and Jean has an army. All our secrets are out in the open. And Samuel now appears to be a mage.

Susan: I can't believe I fell for that.  
>Me: Did you notice how I typed in the chat while you were talking "Don't give it to him until he gives you Balder back"?<br>Susan: I probably would've figured that out myself or read the chat if it wasn't three in the morning.

Chris: "My name is Cas."  
>Spencer: Cas, like Cassiopeia?<br>Chris: Cas as in I'm gonna castrate you if you make that joke again.

Fucking fuck, guys. Get online. I miss you. Nothing to do with the fact that I am sick of disappointment every goddamn Wednesday.


	11. How to get kidnapped

They traveled north. On the seventh day of the journey, they arrived in the town of Elturel. The intent was to merely pass through, that the town stood between them and Baldur's Gate. They passed a shop that sold magic items, however, and Lily stopped.

"Hold up," she said. "I'll be right back. I won't be long, you can keep going. I'll catch up." Without another word, she darted into the shop.

Isarda stared after her curiously. Jean snorted in impatience and kept walking. Isarda continued after him, lagging behind a bit so that they did not lose Lily. Jean had reached the town square by the time Lily emerged from the shop, a new bag of holding on her hip, slipping her old bag inside it. She looked around, saw Isarda, and made to move towards her.

She hadn't gone more than a few paces, however, when it happened. There was a loud whistling sound, and several small explosions around them. A man crouched in each of the craters they made. The one closest to Jean recovered from falling from the sky first.

It was Samuel. When he saw Jean, his eyes widened in surprised and horror. "No, no, no," he said in disbelief. He spoke with a Russian accent. "I killed you. I killed you!" He pulled a gun from a holster on his belt and pointed it at Jean with a hand that was shaking slightly.

The one closest to Lily straightened up. He too was Samuel. Lily pointed her bow at him, thoroughly confused. Samuel looked at her in equal confusion, his head cocked to one side.

"Honey?" he said in surprise.

"Wh-what did you just say to me?" asked Lily, stepping back a few paces, pure shock etched onto her face.

"Samuels!" came a call from on top of the fountain in the town square. "So this is where you late arrivals ended up." The voice had a British accent. Lily turned her gaze to the fountain and saw another Samuel. She knew instinctively with a familiar rush of hatred that this was, for lack of a better word, their Samuel. This was the one that they thought they had seen die two years previously.

"Vot is he doing here?" demanded Russian Samuel. "I killed him, I know I did!"

"And what is my wife doing here?" asked the Samuel close to Lily.

"Ex-excuse me!" stammered Lily, turning her gaze sharply back to him. "W-wife?"

"Yes, I thought I would have to explain it yet again," said British Samuel calmly. "You're not in the dimension you're used to. This is my dimension, and thus, my world. In my world, Jean is not dead, and, uh, and I don't think she appreciates you very much at the moment since she is most certainly _not_ your wife in this dimension."

There were two more Samuels in the square who had not spoken yet, but were looking at British Samuel, hanging on his every word. The Samuel close to Lily took a step towards her, still looking up at British Samuel with a confused look on his face.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said. "My wife is right here, look!"

He tried to give Lily a hug. She ducked out from under his arms and stumbled backwards several steps, a few steps into the narrow alley between the shops, a thoroughly disgusted and slightly frantic look on her face.

"Look, I'm sorry," she said, not really sorry at all but at a loss for what else to say, "but I am _not _who you think I am! And I would really like to meet this me from whatever dimension you came from to beat the shit out of her for marrying you, because here, I would never even consider it. Stay away from me!" she snarled as he started towards her again. She pulled the bowstring back and pointed AnuValore at his face, her expression hardening.

Samuel was looking at her with a slightly hurt look on his face. "Honey, I…"

The gunshot rang loudly through the square. Any villagers who had stuck around to watch ran at the noise. The Samuel in front of Lily fell. Lily was disgusted with the rush of gratitude she felt for Russian Samuel at that moment, still pointing the smoking gun at where Samuel's head had been a moment ago.

"Oh, come on, now!" said British Samuel. "You can't just go and…I don't even know whether to call that murder or suicide!"

"He vos weak, so I took care of it," Russian Samuel said mutinously, glaring up at British Samuel.

"That doesn't mean you can just do that to yourself, him, whatever!" shouted British Samuel with an air of one desperately trying to regain control of a situation.

Russian Samuel rolled his eyes and shot at Jean, hitting him in the shoulder. In retaliation, Jean launched himself at Russian Samuel. The fight broke out extremely quickly.

Lily hesitated for a few seconds, watching in slight awe at how fast the fight had started. She was just about to jump in, when she let out a small noise of pain as a hand closed around her hair underneath her braid and yanked her head back. A knife was pressed to her back.

"If you struggle or make a sound, I will kill you where you stand," said a voice softly in her ear. She could sense the smirk in his words.

Lily was dragged to the back of the alley and thrown down on all fours. She glared up at her attacker and saw it was yet another Samuel. Looking extremely pleased with himself, he snapped his fingers. Ropes that appeared to be made of shadows appeared around her wrists, dragging them behind her back and binding them tightly.

Lily was just wondering how she could ever face Xant again if she were raped by the man who killed him, regardless of dimension, when he snapped his fingers again and a large, black, shadowy horse appeared in the alley next to him.

"What are you going to do with me, you fucko?" she spat, trying vainly to break her bonds.

"I am taking you back to our base," he said cheerfully, picking up AnuValore and placing it on his back. "The one who leads us, the one who was up on the fountain there, he's made it clear that you had something we need. I would just teleport you but you're not a Samuel. You wouldn't be able to get in and I have no idea where you'd end up."

He picked her up and threw her over the back of the horse, climbing on behind her. He rode out of the alley and towards the southern city gate. Knowing that this would be her last opportunity, regardless of what would happen to her, Lily took a deep breath.

"_HELP_!" she screamed as loudly as she could over the sounds of the battle.

Everyone looked up. The other Samuels grinned and disappeared. Isarda saw what was happening and fired a spell at Samuel. A massive lightning bolt struck him. He didn't have time to scream as his ribcage exploded. Lily cringed in disgust and tried to roll off the horse, but couldn't move enough with Samuel's corpse on it. The horse carried her off, away from the others, despite the fact that its caster was now dead.

* * *

><p>The horse travelled for three days straight with no sign of stopping. Lily was feeling very weak, as she had had no food or water in those three days. She also hadn't slept very much, as it was very uncomfortable on her stomach, draped over the back of a constantly moving horse. Not to mention the fact that she was feeling quite nauseous from the smell of the corpse still sharing the horse with her, and she had a constant migraine from the blood rushing to her head whenever her neck got tired of trying to hold her head upright. She kept expecting the spell to run out, but it never did.<p>

She was beginning to seriously wonder if she was going to die on the back of that horse when it slowed down. Lily turned her head and got an upside down view of a tall tower with a Samuel coming out. When he spoke it was revealed to be British Samuel.

"Hey, you're finally back! We were beginning to wonder if…oh." He stopped when he saw the corpse. The horse abruptly stopped, throwing the corpse forward on top of Lily. She gagged.

"Yes, yes, your friend is very dead, now get me off this fucking horse before I suffer the indignity of vomiting in front of you," said Lily, her voice weak and faint, though still retaining some of the venom she put in it.

Before he could do anything, however, the horse, having reached its destination, vanished. Lily hit the ground hard with a grunt of pain, her hands falling to meet the ground next to her as her bonds disappeared. The corpse, fortunately, did not land on top of her.

Lily scrambled to her feet, snatching her bow off of the corpse and pointing it at Samuel. As soon as she stood upright, however, she swayed violently, staggering several steps to the left. Her vision swam and black bordered it as blood rushed from her brain to the rest of her body, and the urge to vomit was stronger than ever. Her bow fell to her side as she held her head in one hand, still swaying and leaning forward at the waist a bit. She closed her eyes and grimaced, noticing as she squeezed her eyes shut that it did not block out the wooziness.

A pair of hands grabbed her firmly and helped her upright. "Are you okay?" asked Samuel, sounding genuinely concerned.

Lily pushed away from him, staggering back a step, her legs faltering without his support. "Fuck if I'm okay!" she snarled. "You try being tied up on the back of a horse for three days with nothing to eat or drink and tell me how you fucking like it!" The anger in her voice was made less intimidating by the fact that her voice still sounded faint and weak.

"I'm sorry," he said. "That wasn't intended to happen. It was intended that the mage version of me would, y'know, live. He would've let you off every now and again."

"Fuck you! I'm leaving." Lily turned and tried to walk away. She stumbled and was caught by Samuel again.

"I'm afraid you can't leave now that you're here," he said. "There's a spell on the perimeter of the tower. If you're not a Samuel, it's impossible to get past. And now that our mage is dead, we can't lift it. And in any case, you're far too weak to think about going anywhere. Fortunately for me, that also means you will put up little resistance when I do this."

He stood her upright and wrenched AnuValore out of her hands. "I'm sorry, but we need this," he said. "Now, let's get you inside and get you something to eat."

Lily, disgusted by her weakness, glared at him. "Alright, Samuel, but if I'm stuck here, let's get one thing straight right here," she said venomously. "You hate me, and I despise you."

"Untrue," said Samuel, cutting her off. "I don't dislike you, and I certainly don't hate you. The fact that you feel that way about me is unfortunate, but not troublesome to me, and rather expected after the circumstances of the last time we met. If I hated you, would I be helping you stay on your feet and offering to help you?"

Lily, taken aback by this unexpected statement, stared at him with a stunned look on her face. She had been so sure that her feelings were mutual. Quickly getting over her surprise, her eyes narrowed in a glare. "Yeah, you really seemed to not hate me when you murdered me on the floor," she said.

"That was also unfortunate!" said Samuel defensively. "I didn't _want_ to do that, it became unavoidable!"

"'Smart choice. It's too bad for you; I was going to kill her anyway.' And then you shot me in the heart," said Lily bluntly. "Yes, I remember every word of that night even now, so don't you pull that bullshit about it being 'unavoidable' on me. You could've easily just walked away after he gave you what you wanted."

Samuel didn't respond, but Lily was satisfied to see the color rising in his cheeks. Eventually he said in a hard voice, "Just get inside the tower before you collapse."

* * *

><p>Samuel had led her into a dining area and thrown food and drink down in front of her. The other Samuels had looked curiously at her. A few of them glared at her, like the one covered in burns. She counted seven of them, including British Samuel. Lily did her best not to betray how weak she felt; British Samuel was a special case.<p>

"You finished?" asked Samuel the moment her plate was clear. Ignoring the look she gave him, he continued. "Good, I've got something I need to show you. If I don't, you'll find out in a less polite way, and then it'll be hell to pay for all of us. Come on."

He led her downstairs into the dark basement. It was very small, with a door on the opposite wall. He opened the door to reveal another small room, this one brightly lit with torches. Lily covered her mouth with both hands to muffle her cry as she saw Balder.

"What have you done to him?" she asked in horror through her hands.

"_I_ haven't done anything to him," said Samuel. "The other versions of me, however…they've, uh, some of them have found a way to enjoy themselves."

Balder was in even worse shape than he had been when Isarda had seen him. There was now a gaping hole in his chest, a metal ring inserted into it to prevent it from healing. His weakly beating heart was visible through it. He appeared to be unconscious. Lily rounded on Samuel, her eyes narrowed in fury.

"You're evil," she hissed through her teeth.

"I am _not_ evil!" said Samuel angrily. "I _destroy_ evil! You remember that demon you fucked around with? _He_ was evil. So I destroyed him."

"_He wasn't evil_!" shouted Lily furiously.

"You're deluded! All of his kind are evil!" shouted Samuel. "I brought you down here, so talk to him if you wish. I will be outside. I don't actually like being here if I can help it."

Samuel turned and left the room, slamming the door behind him. Balder groaned and opened his eyes, spotting Lily.

"L-Lily?" he asked, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Nevermind that," said Lily, moving to his side and kneeling down. "How are you?"

"Brilliant," said Balder sarcastically. "What about you, and Isarda?"

"I'm alright, and Isarda is just fine," said Lily. She hesitated. This was really something Isarda should tell him herself, but at the same time it didn't look like Balder would live long enough for that to happen. Eventually the feeling that he needed to know won out. "She's pregnant."

Balder smiled. "Really?" he asked. "Hah…we've been trying. This is great. But this is also not important now. Has Samuel told you what he's planning?"

Lily shook her head. "He hasn't really told me anything of use. Do you know what he's planning?"

"Yes, I do," said Balder grimly. "He plans to summon a demon –"

"That fucking hypocrite!" interjected Lily angrily. How could he be planning to summon a demon when he had told her he "destroys evil" and that Xant was evil enough to be destroyed mere minutes ago?

"We can_not_ let him summon this demon," said Balder. "His name is Rioxalin, and Samuel doesn't understand what he'll do. Rioxalin has lied to him. Samuel believes that Rioxalin will help him set up a new form of government, something that he's calling a democracy. Apparently he made a deal with him upon his death, twisting it so that he didn't have to die at all. All the other Samuels from other dimensions did the same thing. There are all kinds of stories about Rioxalin amongst the elves. Rioxalin eats dimensions. He destroys them and absorbs their power. If Samuel succeeds in summoning him, we will all be dead."

"And how do we stop him?" asked Lily quietly.

"Fortunately, Rioxalin is particularly difficult to summon," said Balder. "He needs two extremely powerful magical items, and the sacrifice of an extremely powerful person. He needs the mask of death, Hoolron Vishnir, and the bow of life, AnuValore. He means to use me as the sacrifice."

Lily's blood ran cold. "He took the mask from Jean over a week ago, and took my bow away when I arrived here."

Balder looked horrified. "Well, we do have time…I'm fairly certain they haven't found the incantation to summon him yet…"

"Well, what we have to do is simple, isn't it?" said Lily in a businesslike manner. "I need to try to convince our Samuel not to go through with it, and if that doesn't work, I get to dust off my old thieving skills. He didn't take any of my equipment, or my bag of holding. That's his blunder. And I need to get you the fuck away from here, and soon."

"And how do you propose to do that, because if you have a way I would love to hear it," said Balder.

"I'm working on it, okay?" she said. "I'll come up with something, don't worry."

"Are you done in here yet?" asked Samuel, opening the door and walking in.

Lily sprang to her feet. "What are you thinking?" she demanded.

"What?" asked Samuel.

"You can't summon Rioxalin!" she exclaimed. "If you do, each and every one of us will die, and that includes you!"

Samuel's expression darkened. "You've been listening to the elf," he remarked.

"So what if I have?" spat Lily.

"Rioxalin is going to help me create a great new world, one without corruption," said Samuel in a tone of one explaining that one and one made two.

"Now who's deluded?" said Lily in disgust.

"Who would you rather believe?" asked Samuel. "The man who managed to put this plan into motion with the help of himself, or a man who has more than likely been tortured to insanity?"

"Who would I rather believe? An old friend or the man who has given me every reason to hate him?" retorted Lily. "As much as I tried to convince myself otherwise, I know you are a very intelligent man. Listen to reason!"

"I've listened enough!" shouted Samuel. "I know I'm right this time, and nothing either of you can say will stop me! _Got it_?"

Lily stiffened, her eyes narrowed in a glare. She nodded and walked towards the door. "I thought you were smarter than this," she spat, knocking his shoulder very hard with her own as she passed.

* * *

><p>I was originally going to wait until Faleyn reviewed because I don't like answering multiple reviews from one person in the same chapter, but my friend Gabby made me watch the TribeTwelve and EveryManHYBRID ARG's of Slenderman with her. I now do not want to go to bed, or even turn out that light. So I thought I'd curl up with my Red Jumpsuit Apparatus playlist and write to pass the time until not-as-dark. Much of this time was spent looking over my shoulder because I thought I saw Slenderman out of the corner of my eye. Someone help me...I'm afraid...It's only 4:30, the sun isn't up yet and I don't know what to do... Still, 15 pages in four and a half fear-filled hours isn't bad.<p>

Soooo, now I'm caught up with the campaign. So there will be no new chapters until we play again. The game is scheduled every Wednesday, and has been since two months ago, which is the last time we played. You now all see why I want to play so badly it's like an addiction. I'm in the perfect place to do some serious rogue work, not to mention the fact that I have a list of 82 and a half ways to make Samuel's life harder.

Chris originally said that I was on the horse for a week until I pointed out that unlike the undead and elves in the party, I am human and we cannot survive without water for a week. So he changed it.

[8/24/2011 10:15:41 PM] Lily: I do believe that dozing off in the bathtub only to be awoken my your own coughing fit is your body's way of telling you that you are falling ill and to go to bed. So I am going to do that. I will, however, always have the health and energy to make Samuel's life hard for him, so if Chris decides to sneak on and wants to play ONE OF YOU TEXT ME OR I WILL RIP OUT YOUR ENTRAILS AND BEAT YOU WITH THEM.  
>[824/2011 10:16:00 PM] Lily: Naaaaight~!  
>[824/2011 10:16:22 PM] Susan-sama: night dear  
>[824/2011 10:16:40 PM] Revlis: Night  
>[824/2011 10:16:53 PM] Lily: See you tomorrow, or if Chris decides to get on, within three minutes of receiving the text.  
>[824/2011 10:17:13 PM] Spencerawr: i am going to bed at 11  
>[824/2011 10:17:19 PM] Spencerawr: so no game today  
>[824/2011 10:17:22 PM] Spencerawr: :/  
>[824/2011 10:17:28 PM] Spencerawr: night  
>[824/2011 10:17:42 PM] Lily: Fair enough then, I didn't expect him to get on now that it's this late anyway.  
>[824/2011 10:17:44 PM] Lily: Night.  
>[824/2011 10:38:53 PM] Marianne (Gab): SPENCER.  
>[824/2011 10:39:00 PM] Marianne (Gab): NEW INTERBUTTS TOMORROW.  
>[824/2011 10:39:01 PM] Marianne (Gab): YAAAY.

That is more or less what happens every fucking Wednesday. By the way, Susan-sama is Isarda, Revlis is not in this game, Spencerawr is Jean, and Gab is not in the game either, but she is the one who made me watch Slenderman with her. FFF. She's lucky she's one of my best friends.

Lily was actually correct: Xant was NOT evil. He was Neutral Evil when they first met, but by the time Samuel met him for the first time in-story and set up the circumstances for his death, he was True Neutral. Bringing Lily back to life pushed him to Neutral Good. So for the instance they are referring to, Xant was not evil. So fuck you Samuel.

Me (on the phone with Chris at around 3 am): No, no, I'll find a way. I'll get Balder out of there and then I'll figure out a way to get past the spell. Even if I can't I can hide somewhere away from the tower.  
>Chris: He can scry you. Don't forget, one of them is a mage.<br>Me: Isn't that the one who's ribcage exploded?  
>Chris: ...Fuck. Damn it, I forgot, now I need to think of a new plan!<p>

Mage Samuel was the one who met Isarda and fought her.

Right, two more things. This is a lengthy A/N. Bear with me. There are nine Samuels, who I will list for you now:

1. British Samuel  
>2. Russian Samuel<br>3. Stupid Samuel  
>4. Bartender Samuel<br>5. Burned Samuel  
>6. Old Samuel<br>7. American Samuel  
>8. Lily's Husband Samuel (dead)<br>9. Mage Samuel (also dead)

Last thing. I am now caught up with the campaign. If things continue the way they have been, I will not be able to work on this for awhile. I will therefore be writing a short story of Lily's backstory, because I've been meaning to write that out so it's set in stone and not vague like it has been. Won't be too long, two, three chapters, maybe not even that and just a long oneshot. So look out for that. That'll be up by the 12th at the earliest, maybe later if we do end up playing by some miracle.


	12. PSA: How to end on a lazy note

A/N

Hey, guys, Rachael here. Wow. Two whole years, plus some. I dunno about you, but I think it's time to call this story closed. The game is dead, Chris has told us the ending, and our group (save for Chris, Spencer/Jean, and I) has split up and are for the most part no longer in contact, save for the aforementioned three.

The only reason I've interrupted writing the book I intend to publish to bring you this PSA is one simple reason: I have a new idea.

I've played around a lot with Xant and Lily since I adopted Xant as my own. I've RP'd with both of them, and I even made Xant a tumblr to RP with Black Butler's Sebastian (xanttheexiledfallen, for those interested), and I've made a whole new cast of characters to go along with them, namely Xant's direct siblings and a very special young lady.

So here's what I propose, okay? I'm officially calling this story closed. Lily doesn't want to be here anyway, she hates Jean, she's distant to the rest, and fuck this Samuel thing. I don't remember the details of the game enough to come up with a logical way out of this. So let's fast forward. One year. Lily's done whatever she does to get out of the tower (I do remember that I planned to persuade Russian Samuel to kill the others), and left the others for good.

See you in my next story. Maybe this one will have a happy ending.

But knowing this couple, it probably will not.


End file.
